Russian stocks rise on foreign background, oil growth attempts

MOSCOW, Sep 7 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Wednesday for a fourth consecutive trading day amid positive foreign background and oil prices’ modest growth attempts, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.70% to 2,053.75 and the RTS gained 1.05% to 1,005.77.

The Russian stock market continued growth on Wednesday supported by “positive foreign background, with growth on European floors, where Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC40 are gaining 0.5% and 0.4%, as well as with the Brent oil price restoring to U.S. $47.5 per barrel,” Finam analyst Bogdan Zvarich said.

“Russian stock indices are growing currently rather under the influence of technical factors than on the back of foreign positive sentiment. A lower probability of an increase of the U.S. Federal Reserve rate has been already won back by the market. Oil quotations do not manage to develop a stable upward movement. And it will be quite difficult for Russian assets to grow without new drivers,” Forex Club analyst Irina Rogova said.

“Oil is making growth attempts, but they end very quickly. As a result, Brent oil prices maintain at the level of $47 per barrel,” Rogova said.

National top lender Sberbank grew 2.45% after reporting that its net profit tripled on the year to 322.788 billion rubles in January–August, as calculated under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS).

The country’s largest carmaker AvtoVAZ rose 1.04% on reports that its sales increased 3.6% on the year to 20,908 cars in August.

Mobile operators MTS and MegaFon gained 1.96% and 2.71%, respectively, after President Vladimir Putin said the government could amend controversial anti-terrorism laws, obliging telecom and Internet operators to store metadata and content of users’ talks to make life easier for the business, Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+2.45	154.33	14.653
Gazprom	+1.19	143.08	7.040
VTB	+1.62	0.07545	1.735
Lukoil	-0.03	3084.00	1.609
MTS	+1.96	244.60	1.331

(64.8306 rubles – U.S. $1)

End