Russian stocks rise on ECB’s decision to launch QE plan in Mar

MOSCOW, Jan 20 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks rose on Thursday on the European Central Bank’s (ECB) decision to launch a quantitative easing program in March and a surge in Brent price triggered by the move, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 2.99% to 1,666.56 and the RTS increased 4.48%% to 817.14.

The ECB decided to buy 60 billion euro bonds per months from March till September 2016. The move met expectations of market players and became the major growth driver for the trading session, Dirgin said.

Brent oil price jumped to U.S. $50 per barrel on the ECB decision and thus supported the upward trend of the domestic market, Dirgin said.

“By the end of the trading session the Russian stock market continued moving upwards, supported by oil prices dynamics and some news on a (1.375 trillion ruble) anti-crisis plan (preliminary approved by President Vladimir Putin) proposed by the government,” Andrei Dirgin, head of Alfa-Forex analytical department said.

OPEC said that oil price is unlikely to fall to $20 per barrel and will rather start growing in the near future, the news that was welcomed by the oil sector, the analyst said.

Lukoil rose 2.47% following CEO Vagit Alekperov statements that there won’s be cuts in staff, analysts said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+2.47	64.35	11.052
Gazprom	+1.81	151.50	8.449
Lukoil	+2.47	2820.00	5.861
Norilsk Nickel	+7.35	10386.00	4.026
Rosneft	+3.07	241.80	2.262

(65.5558 rubles – U.S. $1)

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