Russian stocks rise on China optimism, rebounding oil, ruble

MOSCOW, Aug 10 (PRIME) --Russian stocks rose on Monday buoyed by investor optimism around possible state support in China, rebounding oil prices and ruble strengthening against the U.S. dollar, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.69% to 1,702.02 and the RTS increased 1.88% to 848.08.

“Some optimism came from China, where investors bet on new government stimulating measures as lackluster economic data was published on the weekend, as nobody wants a market crash. Rising expectations of new stimuli in China supported all raw material stocks on Monday,” Vasily Oleinik, analyst at ITinvest, said.

Rumors that Saudi Arabia plans to enter the debt market also supported the oil market, which backed the Russian stocks, Timur Nigmatullin, analyst at Finam, said.

“Such actions point to budget financing problems openly in conditions of low oil prices,” he said.

The rise of the dollar-denominated RTS was technically sped up by the ruble strengthening to about 63.2 against the dollar by the closing bell.

Top lender Sberbank rose 1.29% to 75.16 rubles on the back of the ruble strengthening, Alexander Kostyukov, analyst at Veles Capital, said.

Metals companies also contributed to growth, including Ruspolimet, which jumped 9.12% to 0.347 rubles, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK), which rose 2.57% to 19.79 rubles, and Raspadskaya, which added 2.96% to 39.3 rubles, as oil price volatility makes shares of non-oil exporters more attractive for investors, Kostyukov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.29	75.16	6.278
Gazprom	+0.11	141.50	5.812
VTB	+0.44	2531.00	2.037
Lukoil	+2.40	38.20	1.833
Norilsk Nickel	+1.09	10222.00	1.669

(63.8399 rubles – U.S. $1)

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