Russian stocks rise following earlier oil price increase

MOSCOW, Nov 16 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market grew on Wednesday, reflecting an earlier oil price surge and retained modest positive dynamics even after oil prices restarted their rdecrease, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.59% to 2,028.92 and the RTS grew 0.94% to 989.68.

“The ruble-bound MICEX index has managed to add significantly under an influence of the morning improvement of the external background. Its current growth is to a large extent a catch-up with the yesterday’s oil market situation improvement,” Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Oil prices returned to a decrease later in the day but the Russian market kept a small upward gap.

“In general, we see that the domestic market players deflated a bit at the last moment but the mood corresponds with the general external background on Wednesday in the evening. With the only difference that Russian benchmarks looked a bit more optimistic than, for instance, the European stock market indicators,” Anastasia Sosnova, a senior analyst at bank Rossiysky Capital, said.

Manzhos said that Gazprom grew significantly as another report about an increase of pipeline gas supplies to Europe was met with optimism; expectations of doubling of dividend payments is another stimulus for growth.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil, benefited from rising oil prices.

Manzhos said that Inter RAO rose on the news about the company’s listing with the MSCI Russia index, setting new long-term maximums.

Coal producers looked weaker than the market, correcting after a recent growth. “The securities have been long overbought, which demands at least a partial ease,” Manzhos said.

Sofya Kirsanova, an analyst at managing company Raiffeisen Capital, said that Dixy was among the outsiders on the back of a weak financial report for July–September. “It is evident that the new strategy which (new CEO) Pedro da Silva plans to carry out will bring about fruits no earlier than next year,” she said.

Mail.ru was growing as investor interest was encouraged by rumors that shareholders of MegaFon and Mail.Ru Group were discussing a possible merger and the mobile operator could enter the capital of the Internet company.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-0.27	145.5	6.018
Sberbank	+0.06	149.94	5.387
Norilsk Nickel	-0.94	10270	2.262
Moscow Exchange	+0.08	111.3	1.748
Lukoil	+0.66	3063	1.725

(65.5548 rubles – U.S. $1)

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