Russian stocks rise in line with oil prices, European floors

MOSCOW, Sep 10 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged up slightly on Tuesday amid a controversial global environment with strengthening crude and mixed foreign stock exchanges dynamics, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.03% to 2,787.52 and the RTS rose 0.28% to 1,343.95.

“The Russian stock market demonstrated a moderate decrease amid a mixed external background. Growing energy market with the Brent oil price hitting U.S. $63.5 per barrel supported purchases in local stocks. At the same time, Western stock exchanges sent conflicting signals,” senior analyst at Promsvyazbank Bogdan Zvarich said.

Major European indices rose around 0.4% by the end of the session, whereas U.S. key benchmarks Dow Jones and S&P500 lost 0.3% and 0.6% in the first hours of trade, he added.

Gold producer Polyus, state-controlled telecom operator Rostelecom and oil company Rosneft were the outsiders losing over 1%.

Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that Rosneft was under pressure due to a statement by U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams that Washington does not rule out introduction of sanctions against the company for increased trade of Venezuelan oil.

Sberbank was among the top performers adding 1.88% to 233.3 rubles after CEO German Gref confirmed the bank’s plans to pay 50% of its net profit in dividends in 2020.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.88	233.3	14.003
Gazprom	-0.79	233	5.613
Norilsk Nickel	+0.03	15944	2.951
Lukoil	-0.44	5476	2.648
VTB Bank	+2.77	0.04265	2.457

(65.5698 rubles – U.S. $1)

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