Russian stocks rise on GDP dynamics, expectations of econ stimuli

MOSCOW, Aug 16 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market grew on Monday as investors were pleased with record dynamics of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), while China’s release of unfavorable macroeconomic statistics means that authorities may soon enact more economic stimuli, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.58% to 3,895.31 and the RTS increased 0.46% to 1,674.09.

“The Russian trade floors started the week on a rather positive note, especially taking into account the pessimistic mood of global investors in regards to the Chinese macro statistics and news about the spread of the Delta type of the coronavirus there. Even the contraction of oil prices failed to spoil the mood of national investors. The main driver of the market is the report on the record growth of Russia’s GDP for the past 20 years,” Artemy Shamshukov, analyst at Finam, said.

On August 13, the Federal State Statistics Service said that the GDP of Russia jumped by 10.3% on the year and by 1.7% as compared with the same period of 2019 in April–June.

“The start of trade on the Russian stock market happened on the background of weak statistics from China. The MOEX Russia Index even fell to 3,855.62 at one moment. But bad economic statistics usually transform into expectations of stimuli in the modern world, so the negative reaction to the news from China did not stay for long,” Andrei Kochetkov, leading analyst for global research at Otkritie Broker, said.

Veles capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that corporate stories also supported the market, while prospects for toughening of monetary policies in developed states and worsening of the situation with the coronavirus acted as secondary factors.

Securities of agricultural holding Rusagro grew by 1.96% to 1,165 rubles in reaction to the report about the company’s net profit soaring 80% on the year to 17.6 billion rubles in January–June. In addition to that, the board of directors recommended paying U.S. $4.5 per share or $0.89 per global depositary receipt (GDR), or a total of $119.733 million, in interim dividends, Kozhukhova said.

Kochetkov also said that the pricing for natural gas on the European markets continues supporting gas giant Gazprom. On Monday morning, the gas price at the TTF hub reached a record of $586.3 per 1,000 cubic meters, while the company booked only 4% of additional gas transit capacities in Ukraine. As a result, Gazprom rose 0.66% to 294.64 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+0.66	294.64	9.061
Rosneft	+0.61	561.95	8.549
Sberbank	+0.15	329.16	7.517
Norilsk Nickel	-0.40	24362.00	4.203
Lukoil	+0.90	6478.50	3.847

(73.4721 rubles – U.S. $1)

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