Russian stocks rise on corporate reports, Western markets dynamics

MOSCOW, Aug 4 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged up on Wednesday despite a fall in oil prices as international investors were pleased with recent corporate reports, and the Western bourses maintained their upward movement trend, which helped the national market stay in the green zone, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.45% to 3,810.62 and the RTS increased 0.16% to 1,640.30.

“On Wednesday, the Russian stock market showed favorable dynamics thanks to the optimistic external background. Positive corporate reports support the good mood of the investment community,” Natalya Pyryeva, analyst at investment company Finam, said.

Alexander Osin, analyst at Freedom Finance, said that the MOEX Russia Index priced in the Tuesday growth of the U.S. indices.

“The piece of news about coordination of a U.S. $1 trillion plan of reforms and submission of a corresponding bill for voting in the Congress became the positive driver for the U.S. floors. Nevertheless, we consider the impact of this factor on the U.S. economy as short-term,” Osin said.

Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that the Russian market stayed in the green zone in spite of some negative signals coming from the external background, mainly from the U.S. stock market, which were undermined by unexpectedly weak data on the local labor market. “Still, the Western floors maintained their main upward trend, and futures for the oil fell down to important mid-term support levels, from which they might rebound upward,” she said.

Osin also said that ordinary and preferred shares of oil company Bashneft outperformed the market and gained 0.61% and 0.20%, respectively, as investors expect the preferred shares to be included into the MSCI Russia Small Index with the share of 2.3%, which will ensure an inflow of $3 million into the security.

Oil major Rosneft lost 1.13% after media reports that BP evaluated its April–June pretax profit before interest from ownership in Rosneft at $643 million. Taking into account BP’s ownership and the currency exchange rates, the figure shows the pretax profit of Rosneft of 217 billion rubles in the period, while the consensus forecast sees it at 224 billion rubles, Osin said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.56	311.64	8.957
Gazprom	+0.53	288.61	6.198
Lukoil	-0.68	6254.00	4.460
ALROSA	+2.52	138.49	4.431
Norilsk Nickel	-0.43	25472.00	3.644

(72.8274 rubles – U.S. $1)

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