Russian stocks rise on favorable environment, corporate news

MOSCOW, Apr 7 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged up on Wednesday as the external background and the local corporate stories supported growth, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.18% to 3,500.34 and the RTS increased 0.19% to 1,429.51.

“The investor mood on the international stock markets were moderately positive in general on Wednesday. The Asian stock indices closed mainly higher as the International Monetary Fund raised the growth forecast for the global economy this year to 6% from 5.5%. The Euro Stoxx 50 index was neutral, while the S&P 500 gained around 0.16% as of 5.30 p.m. Moscow time,” Yevgeny Mironyuk, analyst at investment company Freedom Finance, said.

Local investors focused on metals and steel companies. They lost about 2% at the beginning of the day on the news  that the Russian government was discussing taxes on excess profits of metals companies. But Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said that introduction of new dumpers may severely restrict production incentives, and the metals companies regained their ground after that, Mironyuk said.

Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) gained 2.46% to 61.85 rubles, Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) rose by 1.89% to 241.42 rubles, and Severstal added 1.44% to 1,524.60 rubles.

“It looks like the lack of a sanction statement, which usually make buyers worried, acted as support for the market. The geopolitical background may worsen any moment, but corporate stories are enough for the Russian market to remain stable for now,” Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

Dmitry Babin, stock market expert at BCS World of Investments, said that depreciation of the ruble also supported the MOEX Russia Index.

Andrei Kochetkov, leading analyst at Otkritie Broker for global research, said that top bank Sberbank outperformed the market and gained 0.32% to 282.40 rubles as the bank again topped expectations and received a record net profit of 103.3 billion rubles for March as calculated under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS).

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.32	282.40	19.648
Norilsk Nickel	+1.71	23576.00	12.231
Lukoil	+1.04	5952.50	8.086
Gazprom	+0.59	224.27	6.394
MMK	+2.46	61.85	3.410

(76.3802 rubles – U.S. $1)

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