Russian stocks rise on high oil prices, geopolitical improvements

MOSCOW, Jun 8 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market grew on Wednesday on support from high oil prices and talks to prepare a possible meeting of President Vladimir Putin with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose by 1.19% to 2,318.85 and the RTS increased by 4.30% to 1,231.25.

“The Russian stock market showed positive dynamics in spite of a mixed external background. The situation on the energy market is still the major support factor for the Russian shares, where the closest future deal for the Brent oil price rose by 1.1% to slightly below U.S. $122 per barrel today,” Bogdan Zvarich, senior analyst at financial supermarket Banki.ru, said.

Investment company Freedom Finance said in a research note that investors priced in expectations that the central bank will cut its key rate on Friday, Freedom Finance said.

“The foreign stock exchanges’ mood was mainly negative on Wednesday worsened by the downgrades of the global economy forecasts for this and next years by the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. But the MOEX Russia Index and the RTS Index regained some ground as they received support from hopes for improvement of the geopolitical background,” Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s comment that resuming negotiations to prepare a meeting between Putin and Zelensky was necessary underpinned the hopes, Kozhukhova said.

She also said that X5 Retail Group rose by 6.63% to 892 rubles on the news about the government’s decision to raise the maximum market share that a grocery retailer can have to 35% from 25%, which could allow X5 Retail Group to expand its presence.

Freedom Finance said that gold producer Petropavlovsk fell by 5.87% to 3.765 rubles because of the negative impact of corporate news.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+3.36	308.00	12.354
Sberbank	+1.34	119.90	5.004
Lukoil	-0.35	3945.50	1.743
Severstal	+2.01	731.80	1.426
Novatek	-0.29	812.20	1.407

(60.9565 rubles – U.S. $1)

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