Russian stocks rise on dimmed Omicron fears, external support

MOSCOW, Dec 22 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market managed to maintain yesterday’s upward trend on Wednesday, boosted by external positivity and seemingly fading fears of a new turn of the COVID-19 crisis spiral, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 1.45% to 3,746.75 and the RTS increased 1.81% to 1,601.93.

“The Russian market was able to continue its recovery and reach the highs of the previous week against a moderately positive external backdrop, … supported by the dynamics of Western markets,” Bogdan Zvarich of Banki.ru said.

As Yury Kravchenko of Veles Capital said, yesterday’s signals of Omicron’s not-so-fierce impact on global economy became a driver for investors’ high spirits at today’s trading session.

The stabilization of the energy market, with Brent crude oil futures cemented at U.S. $74 per barrel, also contributed to purchases today, Zvarich said.

Today’s renewal of historical highs in gas prices spurred the growth of the Russian stock market even further, and gas companies Gazprom and Novatek’s shares were in strong demand for the second day in a row, while the strong ruble supported the shares of the financial sector giants Sberbank and VTB, Yegor Zhilnikov, chief analyst at PSB Bank, said.

The production sector on the whole and the shares of the metallurgical companies Norilsk Nickel, Severstal, NLMK and others in particular were on the rise as well, Zhilnikov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+2.28	347.62	29.231
Sberbank	+1.2	295.2	17.110
Lukoil	+0.26	6365	4.773
Norilsk Nickel	+1.04	21888	3.628
Yandex	-0.69	4547.4	3.160

(73.8206 rubles – U.S. $1)

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