Russian stocks rise despite falling oil, weaker ruble

MOSCOW, Dec 4 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed in the positive territory on Monday after trading mixed the entire day amid falling oil prices and the ruble’s depreciation against the U.S. dollar, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.64% to 2,119.42 and the RTS increased 0.05% to 1,133.87.

“A short morning wave of sales in domestic shares did not receive further development. Moreover, the ruble-denominated MOEX Russia Index managed to overcome the morning decline and consolidated in the positive territory,” Vitaly Manzhos, a senior risk manager at investment company Nord Capital, said.

Oil company Tatneft was the growth leader, with common shares jumping 11.25% and preferred shares rising 4.58% after the company said it plans to boost investment 3.7% to 98.8 billion rubles in 2018 and does not expect its dividend payment to fall below 50% of net profit.

Coal producer Raspadskaya’s shares lost 1.12% after a fire was reported at the company’s mine.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.4	224.60	10.084
Gazprom	+0.56	133.77	2.372
Tatneft	+11.25	511.45	2.335
Lukoil	+1.39	3390.50	2.060
Aeroflot	-2.4	144.60	1.418

(58.5182 rubles – U.S. $1)

End