Russian stocks rise backed by higher oil prices, favorable mood

MOSCOW, Feb 26 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market won back part of previous losses on Wednesday thanks to improvement of global background, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.49% to 3,017.42 and the RTS rose 1.04% to 1,461.22.

“The Russian stock market managed to recoup part of the previous day’s losses thanks to a better external background. Dynamics of Western floors were the reason for purchases,” senior analyst at Promsvyazbank Bogdan Zvarich said.

The European stock exchanges closed mixed, while the U.S.’ Dow Jones and S&P500 grew 1% and 1.1%, respectively, at the opening, and the nearest Brent oil futures also surged, Zvarich added.

Freedom Finance analysts said that metals giant Norilsk Nickel was among the best performers adding 1.26% thanks to a sound financial report for 2019 demonstrating a 95% rise in the net profit to U.S. $6 billion.

Sberbank rose 2.29% on the announcement of a new service to compete against IT giant Yandex’s Yandex.Auto.

Grocery retailer Lenta lost another 1.6% in light of a recently published financial report marking a switch to a 2.1 billion ruble net loss.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+2.29	250.8	16.724
Gazprom	+0.04	224.76	14.256
Lukoil	+1.48	6256.5	10.208
Norilsk Nickel	+1.26	21826	8.593
Yandex	+0.34	2690.8	6.129

(64.9213 rubles – U.S. $1)

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