Russian stocks rise in line with growth on global floors

MOSCOW, May 23 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks rose on Tuesday backed by moderate growth of European benchmarks and strengthening of the U.S. stock futures, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.49% to 1,960.16 and the RTS increased 1.22% to 1,096.83.

The stock market growth was curbed by oil prices, which switched to decline after recent growth, InstaForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said.

“The limited activity of Russian investors was caused by a lack of new ideas on the market, as well as a waiting position ahead of important events,” the analyst said.

The European Central Bank’s President Mario Draghi will give a speech on Wednesday and a protocol of the U.S.’ Federal Reserve System will be released, while OPEC and non-OPEC states will decide over prolongation of an oil production cut agreement on Thursday. “These events will set a tone for foreign floors and help domestic indices to determine their movement vector,” Kovalyov said.

Oil prices went below U.S. $54 per barrel partially affected by Kuwait’s Oil Minister Essam al-Marzouq saying that not all countries agreed to extend the oil cut deal.

Coal producers were among growth leaders, with metals and mining giant Mechel adding 7.09% and Raspadskaya growing 4.22%, Otkritie Broker analyst Alexander Kochetkov said.

Power utilities were also growing. Power producer Mosenergo rose 4.01%, power grid holding Rosseti increased 2.94%, and power producer Wholesale Generating Company-2 (WGC-2) gained 1.85%.

Shares of bankrupt airline Transaero jumped 48.88% on market speculations, analysts said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.02	166.31	6.594
Gazprom	+0.58	123.23	4.230
Lukoil	+0.5	2825.00	1.401
ALROSA	+2.26	91.21	1.205
Magnit	-1.41	9280.00	1.053

(56.4988 rubles – U.S. $1)

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