Russian stocks rise as oil price still high on oil talk hopes

MOSCOW, Aug 12 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market increased on Friday, supported by high oil prices, which rose on expectations that oil exporters will discuss measures to increase them at a meeting in September, and an overbought ruble weakened against the U.S. dollar, backing the MICEX and limiting a rise of the RTS, analysts said.

The MICEX grew 0.77% to 1,967.18 and the RTS increased 0.19% to 954.58.

The Russian stock market “was supported by oil prices above U.S. $46 per barrel of Brent,” Finam analyst Bogdan Zvarich said.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said, “Oil prices jumped sharply yesterday on rumors that Saudi Arabia is ready to discuss steps to stabilize oil prices during a meeting in Algeria which will take place from September 26 to 28.”

Raiffeisen Capital analyst Sofya Kirsanova said the ruble-denominated MICEX was supported by a ruble weakening against the U.S. dollar.

Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said that at the same time, the rise of the dollar-denominated RTS was limited by the ruble dynamics.

Kochetkov said that the ruble fell, because it was overbought earlier in the week.

Dominion Fx analyst Yury Vinter said that in general, external conditions were neutral today. “Asian stocks closed higher. Investors’ mood was not spoiled by data on industrial production and retail sales in China, which failed to meet market expectations,” he said.

Russia’s Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP) jumped 19.3% to 5.13 rubles after the company’s board of directors recommended paying 0.467 rubles per share in dividends for January–June, Manzhos said.

The Moscow Exchange, which increased 2.95% to 123 rubles, above the long-term resistance level of 120 rubles per share, was still supported by the fact that the bourse’s net profit rose by 6.8% on the year to 6.41 billion rubles in April–June, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the analyst said.

Electronics retailer M.Video rose 3.6% to 345 rubles, because investors expect the company to publish strong financial results for April–June, Kirsanova said.

Oil companies grew on the back of high oil prices. Private oil company Lukoil grew 3.05% to 2,870 rubles, state-run oil major Rosneft went up 1.78% to 330.85 rubles and Tatneft increased 1.68% to 332 rubles.

Below are the MICEX’ five most active stocks on Friday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.18	139.45	6.223
Gazprom	+0.47	137.83	2.851
Lukoil	+3.05	2870.00	2.328
The Moscow Exchange	+2.95	123.00	1.508
Norilsk Nickel	-1.29	9860.00	1.436

(64.9497 rubles – U.S.)

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