Russian stocks rise as positive environment supports market

MOSCOW, Jul 2 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market firmed on Friday as it received a positive momentum from the foreign bourses and from the latest statistics on the U.S. labor market, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.18% to 3,865.42 and the RTS increased 0.19% to 1,659.72.

“The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS Index switched to growth at the end of trade as they received support from the optimistic mood of players on foreign stock floors. … Inflation fears and thoughts about an upcoming toughening of the monetary policies left the markets, helping all indices continue a slow increase,” Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

Investors are waiting for the OPEC+ alliance’s decision, and will continue to evaluate the current situation on the basis of macroeconomic reports and situation with the coronavirus in different countries, she said.

“The oil market remained stable although the OPEC+ ministerial committee delays its decision. The monitoring committee failed to approve recommendation for the ministers on Thursday in spite of media reports, delaying everything for today. This is why growth on the Russian market slowed down, which was also partially due to dividend gaps in some liquid shares,” Dmitry Bedenkov, head of the research department of investment company Russ-Invest, said.

Oil major Lukoil lost 2.54% to 6,832 rubles due to a dividend cut-off, Bedednkov said.

“The Russian shares showed positive dynamics in Friday’s trade. The U.S. dollar switched to contraction in all sectors of the foreign currency market after the release of the U.S. labor report for June. The ruble used that, and it allowed the RTS Index to show growth,” Mikhail Shulgin, head of Otkritie Broker’s global research department, said.

Kozhukhova also said that the shares of multi-industry holding En+ Group gained XX% to XX rubles in a rebound after a fall in several previous trade sessions.

Dividend cut-offs also pushed power utility Territorial Generating Company-1 (TGC-1) down by  7.85% to 0.011224 rubles, Mosenergo by 5.30% to 2.232 rubles, and fertilizer producer PhosAgro by 3.58% to 4,715 rubles, she said.

Below are the MOEX Russia Index’ five most active stocks on Friday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.43	307.11	8.489
Gazprom	-0.10	285.45	8.060
Rosneft	-3.09	563.50	7.175
Lukoil	-2.54	6832.00	6.726
Norilsk Nickel	+1.58	25000.00	4.727

(72.9086 rubles – U.S. $1)

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