Russian stocks rise on Friday in line with oil prices

MOSCOW, Apr 3 (PRIME) – The Russian stocks grew on Friday supported from rising oil prices, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose by 1.03% to 2,572.23 and the RTS increased by 1.53% to 1,049.88.

“The Russian market continues living with expectations of a new agreement among the oil producers. The Brent oil prices started a downward correction, but the news that an online meeting was scheduled for April 6 arrived making the oil companies gain leaders again,” Otkritie Broker’s senior analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that the background for the Russian market was mixed as the European bourses fell after the final business activity indices in the services sector worsened, confirming weakness of the region’s economy. The futures for the U.S. stocks also contracted during the day, but the Russian market focused on the growth of oil prices.

“On the one hand, verbal promises of U.S. President Donald Trump about a possible output reduction of 15 million barrels a day, which prompted speculative growth of prices for black gold, are unrealistic because of many reasons,” Sergei Deineka, financial analyst at BCS Premier, said.

“On the other hand, the news on the urgent call for an OPEC+ meeting show readiness of the sides to return to negotiations, which means that there is a chance for a compromise to stabilize the market.”

Kochetkov also said that the increase in oil prices helped oil companies Rosneft, Bashneft, Tatneft, and Gazprom Neft to gain 1.32%, 3.82%, 2.44%, and 5.58%, respectively.

At the same time, the banking sector was the weak link on government economic support, which includes delays of loan redemptions and other similar moves, Kochetkov said. Sberbank lost 0.70%, while VTB Bank eased by 0.30%.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+1.46	189.77	17.602
Sberbank	-0.70	185.64	17.235
Lukoil	+3.06	5204.50	16.283
Rosneft	+1.32	345.00	12.982
Surgutneftegas	+2.00	36.385	7.742

(77.7325 rubles – U.S. $1)

End %%md/jst%%