Russian stocks rise on Brent, ECB, Ukraine talks expectations

MOSCOW, Jan 20 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks rose on Wednesday as investors expect the European Central Bank (ECB) to approve a quantitative easing program on Thursday and that Brent price has already reached its low and may rise, as well on crisis-fighting plan estimates, lack of mass investment cuts by local firms and upcoming talks on the Ukrainian conflict, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 3.00% to 1,618.17 and the RTS increased 3.42% to 782.13.

“Russian stocks followed a trend of developing markets and rose in anticipation of an ECB quantitative easing decision, which may raise investors’ interest in risky assets,” Sofiya Kirsanova, an analyst at Raiffeisen Capital, said.

Moreover, investors supposed the Brent oil price had already reached its low and will rise in the future; the fact was welcomed by the market as the price increased to over U.S. $48.8 per barrel, analysts said.

The fact that there was no mass announcement of investment program cuts by Russian companies was another positive factor for domestic stocks after corresponding announcements were made abroad, Kirsanova said.

Domestic stocks also rose as investors hoped that some solutions concerning the Ukrainian conflict will be found during a meeting of foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France in Berlin on Thursday, the analyst said.

The news that the government’s anti-crisis plan will require 1.375 trillion rubles and will include capital increase for state banks with money from the National Wealth Fund, as well as tax easing for regions, sped up the market growth, Andrei Dirgin, head of Alfa-Forex analytical department, said.

Mechel, which rose about 18% to 32.15 rubels, increased on market speculations only, Dirgin said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+3.29	62.80	6.608
Gazprom	+2.09	148.80	4.413
Lukoil	+4.69	2752.00	3.028
Surgutneftegas pref	+1.10	36.80	2.958
Magnit	+4.30	11855.00	1.756

(64.9862 rubles – U.S. $1)

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