Russian stocks rise on PM, finance minister’s comments

MOSCOW, Apr 21 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks rose on Tuesday as investors were encouraged by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s comment that although negative trends persist in the economy, the situation is much better than it could have been, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 1.60% to 1,710.24 and RTS increased 1.20% to 1,007.69.

“And even (Finance Minister Anton) Siluanov said that the ruble has found its balance, a very positive statement, though it is unclear which figure he was speaking about given the current ruble fluctuations,” Sergei Filchenkov, analyst at Metropol, said.

The MICEX index was also supported by the positive news flow and good macro statistics, Finam’s analyst Timur Nigmatulin said.

“Medvedev said that preliminary data shows that Russia’s January–March gross domestic product fell by 2% on the year, while the Economic Development Ministry expects the country’s economy to fall by 3% in 2015,” he said.

He also said that Wednesday’s meeting of lower house deputies with ambassadors of the E.U. countries also adds to the positive mood, as they may discuss the lifting of Western sanctions.

The general background during the trading was also positive, with U.S. stock index futures rising and Asian floors closing mostly in the green zone.

Pharmaceutical group Protek gained 6.46% to 41.2 rubles as the company’s net profit under International Financial Reporting Standards more than doubled on the year to 4.793 billion rubles in 2014.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+2.37	75.24	11.717
Gazprom	+0.90	155.35	4.557
Lukoil	+2.18	2728.20	2.873
Norilsk Nickel	+1.15	9700.00	2.338
Magnit	+4.66	12207.00	2.187

(51.5207 rubles – U.S. $1)

End