Russian stocks rise on Ukraine truced, absence of new sanctions

MOSCOW, Feb 12 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks, shrugged falling oil prices off, propelled higher by a truce agreement for Ukraine and the E.U. decision not to introduce new sanctions, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 2.22% to 1,802.80 and the RTS increased 3.56% to 861.93.

“The successful completion of hours-long “Minsk marathon” led to sustainable growth of the Russian stock market indices,” Sofia Kirsanova, analyst at Raiffeisen capital, said.

The negotiators, including Russia and the E.U. and U.S., agreed on a ceasefire in Ukraine from Sunday, removal of heavy weapons and amendments to the country’s constitution that lead to a rally on the stock market, Kirsanova said.

The successful negotiations of the “Normandy quartet” during the night of February 12 supported the MICEX, while the growth of the RTS was limited by the ruble weakening in anticipation of a U.S. $37 billion debt payment by Russian companies in February–March, Timur Nigmatullin, analyst at Finam, said.

Another growth factor was recent comments by Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and E.U. foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini about the Russian sanctions, particularly Merkel’s words that Putin has done everything to stop the bloodshed and Mogherini’s comment that new sanctions are unlikely to be introduced, Veles Capital analyst Alexander Kostyukov said.

The Brent price decrease to $55–56 per barrel limited the growth of the stock market, Anton Fomin, analyst at Insta-Forex, said.

PhosAgro fell 0.91% to 2,298 rubles after it said it would freeze local prices for the spring planting, the analyst said.

Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant (ChMK), a unit of Mechel included in the list of systemic companies for state anti-crisis aid, rose 35.14% to 1,669 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+3.21	67.21	27.194
Gazprom	+4.25	157.70	14.081
Lukoil	+1.66	3120.00	7.298
Norilsk Nickel	+2.91	12037.00	4.684
Magnit	+3.10	11855.00	4.328

(66.0585 rubles – U.S. $1)

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