Russian stocks rise backed by oil prices after Saudi Arabia deal

MOSCOW, Sep 5 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Monday supported by oil prices, which grew after Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to cooperate in stabilization of the oil market, analysts said.

The MICEX grew 0.68% to 2,017.38 and the RTS increased 0.78% to 977.45.

“News about an agreement between Russia and Saudi Arabia on coordination of actions to stabilize the oil market led to explosive growth of “black gold” quotations, which had a positive impact on the Russian assets as well,” Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

The Russian ruble appreciated on the back of growing oil prices and supported the dollar-denominated RTS index, analysts said.

Oil prices were quite volatile on Monday, having jumped by 5% to U.S. $49.37 per barrel in the morning on reports that Russia and Saudi Arabia will sign a joint statement to stabilize the oil market and returning to $47.37 per barrel after the Saudi Arabian oil minister said there was currently no necessity to limit oil production, Forex Club analyst Irina Rogova said.

Common shares of the country’s largest carmaker AvtoVAZ grew 2.38% and preferred shares jumped 7.6%, as investors positively reacted to the company’s 85 billion ruble recapitalization plans.

Steelmaker Severstal increased 0.59% as the company’s shareholders approved dividends for January–June.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.78	149.50	8.878
Gazprom	+0.37	136.05	3.167
Lukoil	+1.67	3053.00	2.086
VTB	+0.2	0.0739	1.579
Rosneft	+1.06	353.60	1.468

(65.8684 rubles – U.S. $1)

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