Russian stocks rise in line with global floors, oil, metals prices

MOSCOW, Mar 31 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged up on Wednesday backed by strong crude and metals prices and global positivity, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.47% to 3,541.72 and the RTS increased 1.15% to 1,477.11.

“The MOEX Russia and the RTS indices stayed in the positive territory by the end of the trading session, but consolidated close to the nearest resistance levels of 3,550 and 1,475, signaling to buyer’s hesitancy. Nevertheless, buyers are no doubt the leaders now… and there are no cues to a reverse,” Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The external markets looked mixed on Wednesday with the “broad” market consolidating and hi-tech giants trying to recoup previous losses, she added.

Crude and metal prices were seen confident thanks to weakening U.S. dollar, and supported Russia’s energy and metal stocks, Kozhukhova also said.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that the financial index of the Moscow Exchange added 0.51% thanks to a 6.95% growth of Russia’s second-largest lender VTB Bank on the news that its net profit soared by 50.5% on the year to 58.4 billion rubles in January–February.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Norilsk Nickel	+2.67	23790	14.581
Sberbank	-1.02	290.26	12.778
Gazprom	+1.03	228.25	8.251
VTB Bank	+6.95	0.04263	7.247
Rosneft	+0.11	570.9	5.034

(75.7023 rubles – U.S. $1)

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