Russian stocks rise in line with foreign floors, stronger ruble

MOSCOW, Jun 15 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Wednesday backed by positive dynamics on foreign floors and the ruble’s strengthening against the U.S. dollar, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.20% to 1,889.75 and the RTS increased 1.10% to 910.08.

“On Wednesday, Russian indices are making attempts to restore after four days of decline,” Forex Club analyst Irina Rogova said. “Russian indices followed foreign benchmarks. The U.S., Asian, and European stock index futures are slightly restoring today,” she said.

Russian stocks managed to ignore the situation on the oil market, where negative dynamics remain, Finam analyst Bogdan Zvarich said.

The Russian ruble has strengthened, mostly due to the dollar’s weakening ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve System’s meeting on its monetary policy, Rogova said.

The ruble’s recovery has encouraged purchases in the financial sector, with top lender Sberbank shares rising 2.21%, InstaForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said.

Due to the ruble’s strengthening, metals giant Norilsk Nickel and uncut diamond monopoly ALROSA were among outsiders, having decreased by 1.35% and 1.50%, respectively, Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

Oil major Rosneft, whose shareholders approved paying 124.5 billion rubles, or 35% of net profit under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), in dividends for 2015, fell 0.60%.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+2.21	129.89	10.370
Gazprom	-0.19	141.57	4.411
Surgutneftegas pref	-1.17	38.10	3.120
Lukoil	-1.22	2637.50	2.578
Magnit	+3.11	8929.00	2.011

(66.0306 rubles – U.S. $1)

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