Russian stocks rise on environment, macroeconomic statistics

MOSCOW, Nov 2 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks grew on Monday supported by a positive foreign background and good foreign and local macroeconomic data, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 1.42% to 1,735.75 and the RTS increased 0.97% to 853.77.

“After a weak start of trading… the mood of all stock markets had switched to positive after optimistic data on Europe’s economy emerged. The published industrial purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the Eurozone turned out to be higher than expected. The same index for Germany also was higher than the forecast,” Vasily Oleinik, an analyst at investment company ITinvest, said

A slight fall of the oil price was compensated by higher European floors and good macroeconomic statistics, Vasily Tanurkov, deputy CEO for stock market research at investment company Veles Capital, said.

“It was also compensated by business activity in Russia, where the PMI in the manufacturing sector increased to 50.2 points and exceeded the 50 point mark for the first time for a long time marking growth of business activity,” Tanurkov said.

Sberbank was the locomotive for the market and grew 3.45%. The shares have been bought aggressively by an unknown player in the last 16 trading sessions, and this factor alone have kept the MICEX index high in the last three weeks. The growth potential of the shares has run out, ITinvest’s Oleinik said.

Meat producer Cherkizovo Group slightly outperformed the market and gained 1.97% on the news that Spain’s largest agricultural holding Grupo Corporativo Fuertes raised its stake in it. The market price of the stake amounts to about U.S. $30 million, Cherkizovo said on October 30

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+3.45	93.65	11.533
Lukoil	+3.97	2412.00	3.271
Gazprom	+1.51	137.80	3.148
Sberbank prefs	+1.40	69.45	1.023
Magnit	-0.22	11111.00	0.934

(64.3742 rubles – U.S. $1)

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