Russian stocks rise backed by oil prices, European floors

MOSCOW, Sep 21 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks grew on Wednesday supported by growing oil prices and positive moods on European floors, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.30% to 1,997.67 and the RTS increased 1.01% to 979.54.

“Russian indices are growing on the back of strengthening oil. Nevertheless, the MICEX did not manage to consolidate over 2,000 and started rolling back. This is not a surprise ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve System’s decision on monetary policy,” Forex Club analyst Irina Rogova said.

Brent oil price is growing on reports that the U.S. commercial oil reserves fell by 6.2 million barrels over the previous week instead of projected growth by 3.35 million, Rogova said.

The market is also waiting for a meeting of oil producers in Algeria at the end of September, where an agreement on oil production freeze can be reached, the analyst said.

On the whole, trading activity was low as investors all over the world did not hurry to make trade decisions ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve System meeting, InstaForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said.

Gas giant Gazprom lost 0.55% following reports that the Supreme Court of Ukraine refused to start proceedings over the company’s appeal against a U.S. $3 billion fine imposed by the country’s Antimonopoly Committee.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.92	150.67	6.611
Gazprom	-0.55	136.25	2.173
Magnit	+2.88	10648.00	1.489
Surgutneftegas pref	+0.89	30.00	1.445
Lukoil	-0.21	3048.50	1.288

(64.7513 rubles – U.S. $1)

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