Russian stocks rise backed by oil price growth, foreign background

MOSCOW, Jun 27 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Wednesday backed by oil price growth and positive moods on global floors, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 1.01% to 2,253.60 and the RTS increased 1.01% to 1,124.84.

“The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS index remained on the positive territory by the end of trading on Wednesday and accelerated the increase due to the improvement of the foreign background,” Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The ruble appreciated against the dollar and euro by the end of the day, she said. Oil quotations jumped by 2–2.5% being supported by prospects of major restrictions of oil exports from Iran under insistence of the U.S.

Trading in the U.S. started with growth of main indices.

National top lender Sberbank was the growth leader, with common shares jumping by 4.02% and preferred shares adding 3.02% in correction after a recent decline caused by a dividend gap.

Aluminum giant UC RUSAL’s shares soared 3.76% as the High Court of London sided with the company in a dispute with Interros over shares of metals giant Norilsk Nickel.

Hydropower giant RusHydro added 0.5% after the shareholders approved paying 2.63 kopecks per share, or a total of 11.226 billion rubles, in dividends for 2017.

Diamond mining giant ALROSA contracted 0.54% as the company’s supervisory board approved main parameters of a new dividend policy, under which the company will base its dividend payments on its free cash flow.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+4.02	207.95	16.592
Gazprom	+0.67	139.00	2.627
Norilsk Nickel	-1.09	11100.00	2.555
Lukoil	+1.64	4222.00	2.503
Sberbank pref	+3.02	183.66	1.428

(62.7908 rubles – U.S. $1)

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