Russian stocks rise as oil prices surge, expected to gain more

MOSCOW, Oct 6 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Tuesday, supported by the oil price strengthening and expectations of their further rise due to lower investment of oil producers, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 1.10% to 1,670.69 and the RTS increased 2.67% to 826.65.

“Our indices managed to gain momentum by the end of the day backed by the fact that oil quotations exceeded U.S. $50 per barrel,” Andrei Dirgin, head of the research department at Alfa-Forex, said.

The statement of OPEC’s Secretary General Abdalla Salem el-Badri that global oil prices may rise because oil companies had cut investment by 20% in 2015 also supported the oil market and secured the rise of Russian stocks, Alexander Kostyukov, an analyst at Veles Capital, said.

The strengthening of the ruble to 63.8 against the U.S. dollar by the closing bell technically backed the dollar-denominated RTS.

Troubled airline Transaero rebounded 37.5% to 11 rubles in correction after the company plummeted 50% on Monday on the news that some flights are cancelled, Igor Kovalyov, an analyst at InstaForex, said.

Independent gas producer Novatek, which buys back shares on the open market, rose 1.66% to 618.1 rubles, Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Surgutneftegas rose 1.11% to 40.09 rubles per preferred share after the company published strong output figures for January–September, Manzhos said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.46	77.31	7.818
Gazprom	+0.78	137.87	5.284
Norilsk Nickel	-1.10	9346.00	3.195
Lukoil	+1.91	2238.00	3.125
Magnit	+0.61	11797.00	1.120

(65.6248 rubles – U.S. $1)

End