Russian stocks rise on OPEC oil production agreement

MOSCOW, Sep 29 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Thursday boosted by OPEC’s Wednesday decision to work out a production freeze deal, which supported shares of the local oil and gas market, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.78% to 1,996.12 and the RTS increased 2.34% to 998.17.

“The main reason for purchases of Russian securities was yesterday evening’s growth of oil prices. OPEC’s agreement to freeze oil production prompted the energy market to jump, which allowed the next futures contract for the Brent oil to settle above a U.S. $48 per barrel mark,” Bogdan Zvarich, an analyst at investment company Finam, said.

On Wednesday, OPEC agreed to cap oil production in a 32.5–33.0 million barrel a day range, although the level for Iran, Libya and Nigeria has not been defined yet. The agreement is to be formalized November 30.

The Brent oil price rose 0.531% to U.S. $48.95 per barrel as of 6.07 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that the positive impact from the OPEC conference was a growth driver for the whole Russian energy sector. Gas giant Gazprom increased 0.91% to 135.31 rubles, while oil companies Rosneft, Lukoil and Tatneft went up 2.31% to 349.20 rubles, 2.38% to 3,082 rubles and 1.99% to 325.85 rubles, respectively, he said.

But the growth of oil prices means a stronger ruble, which is a negative factor for metals companies and other exporters. Steelmakers Severstal and Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) fell 1.58% to 779.70 rubles and 0.99% to 29.55 rubles, respectively. Fertilizer producers Acron and PhosAgro contracted 1.88% to 3,385 rubles and 0.43% to 2,524 rubles respectively, Kochetkov said.

Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said that preferred shares of oil company Surgutneftegas looked weaker than the market and the sectorial index and decreased 1.04% to 29.46 rubles because of the stronger ruble as the company’s dividends depend on revaluation of its foreign-currency deposits.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.88	148.47	8.486
Gazprom	+0.91	135.31	3.248
Lukoil	+2.38	3082.00	1.533
Norilsk Nickel	-0.34	9918.00	1.105
Surgutneftegas prefs	-1.04	29.46	1.050

(63.9509 rubles – U.S. $1)

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