Russian stocks rise as oil prices slowdown their fall

MOSCOW, May 13 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks firmed on Friday as oil prices fall slowed down, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.28% to 1,907.19 and the RTS increased 0.65% to 921.88.

The Brent oil price fell only 0.544% to U.S. $47.82 per barrel as of 6.41 p.m. Moscow time according to the ICE exchange, a slight slowdown after contraction to $47.32 during the day.

“Oil supported our stock market rebound in the second half of Friday trade, and, as a result, the market managed to regain its losses and enter the green zone,” Bodgan Zvarich, an analyst at Finam group of companies, said.

The Moscow Exchange fell 2.50% to 104.32 rubles due to a dividend date cutoff, Vitaly Manzhos, senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Fertilizer Producer PhosAgro rose 3.24% to 2,932 rubles as U.S.-based investment risk management agency MSCI included the company’s global depositary receipts (GDRs) into its MSCI Russia Index effective from May 31, Manzhos said.

Shares of retailer Dixy Group went up 1.38% to 329.5 rubles. The company said its revenue rose 23% on the year to 26.983 billion rubles in April and 18.3% to 100.6 billion rubles in January–April, so Dixy outperformed its competitor Magnit, Manzhos added.

Bank Vozrozhdenie soared 38.9% to 748 rubles after a source in Promsvyazcapital B.V., owned by businessmen Dmitry and Alexei Ananyev, said on Thursday that in June–August they will consider selling Vozrozhdenie Bank’s shares during a SPO. The share of free float must be increased by about 15%, he said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.11	121.07	7.703
Lukoil	+0.97	2699.50	3.488
Gazprom	+0.52	159.85	3.232
Magnit	+2.29	9036.00	2.109
Surgutneftegas prefs	-3.46	40.93	2.075

(64.9607 rubles – U.S. $1)

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