Russian stocks rise on higher oil, geopolitics, pre-New Year rally

MOSCOW, Dec 23 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks rise on Wednesday on higher oil price, news that the E.U. may ease sanctions in March 2016 already and on the back of a pre-New Year rally on global trading floors, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 1.42% to 1,747.58 and the RTS increased 3.03% to 785.51.

“Main factors which supported Russian stock indices included geopolitics and oil,” Artyom Zvyagilsky, a senior analyst at MFX Brocker, said, adding that oil was backed by data on decreased U.S. oil and oil products reserves.

Brent increased to above U.S. $37 per barrel by the end of the trading session.

Investors also favored the news reported by some media that the E.U. may soften anti-Russian sanctions in late March 2016 already, the analyst said.

“External conditions developed positively for the Russian market today, in all appearances, and a pre-New Year rally began to show on global stocks,” Vasily Tanurkov, an analyst at Veles Capital, said.

The rise of the dollar-denominated RTS was technically sped up by the ruble strengthening to 70.1 by the closing bell.

National top lender Sberbank grew 3.17% to 102.96 rubles due to the ruble dynamics.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+3.17	102.96	7.362
Gazprom	+1.58	135.30	3.601
Lukoil	-0.43	2317.00	2.413
Norilsk Nickel	+2.06	9410.00	1.946
Sberbank pref	+4.44	75.67	1.580

(71.1211 rubles – U.S. $1)

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