Russian stocks rise on corporate news, positive external backdrop

MOSCOW, Oct 21 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market grew on Friday on corporate news, improvement of the external background and strengthening of the ruble, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.90% to 2,043.71 and the RTS increased 0.87% to 1,050.57.

“The Russian stock market was in the positive territory at the end of the trading session on Friday supported by corporate stories, a stronger ruble and improved external sentiment,” Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The Russian ruble rose to the highest levels since the first half of October as the tax period continued, she added.

Alexei Golovinov, chief analyst at PSB Bank, said that the rebound of the U.S. market after two days of decline, as well as some reduction of concerns over the Federal Reserve System’s further monetary policy positively affected the Russian stock market.

The leaders of growth were the securities of the mining and metallurgy sector, Golovinov also said. In particular, securities of steelmakers grew the strongest over previously published operating results of the companies, which turned out to be quite good, he added.

Kozhukhova also said that the leader of decline among the most liquid securities was TCS Group, whose receipts fell again for no obvious fundamental reason.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.34	118.55	9.980
Polyus	+4.32	6200	4.389
Lukoil	+0.73	4412.5	3.41
Gazprom	+1.4	163	2.332
TCS Group	-2.04	2452	1.684

(61.5018 rubles – U.S. $1)

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