Russian stocks rise on higher oil price, strong corporate data

MOSCOW, May 16 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks grew on Monday supported by rising oil prices and strong financial results of domestic companies for January–March, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.43% to 1,915.33 and the RTS increased 0.79% to 929.12.

Oil price dynamics were the main growth driver, Forex Club analyst Irina Rogova said. “Brent increased to U.S. $49.46, a new high for six months. Oil was unexpectedly supported by a report of Goldman Sachs. According to it, the oil market is in deficit now,” she said.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that the stock market was also supported by corporate reporting.

Power utility Mosenergo increased 4.73% to 1.616 rubles after publishing a 10.5% year-on-year increase in a January–March net profit under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Gas producer Novatek was also backed by strong financial results as its net profit almost doubled to 12.4 billion rubles in January–March under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS). Novatek went up 1.29% to 626.4 rubles.

VTB, which earned a 600 million IFRS ruble net profit in January–March against an 18.3 billion ruble net loss in the same period of 2015, rose 1.15% to 0.06959 rubles.

Power holding Inter RAO rose 8.72% to 1.87 rubles and power utility Irkutskenergo grew 11.17% to 21.8 rubles. Bank Obrazovanie senior analyst Vitaly Manzhos attributed the rise to the news that Inter RAO signed a deal to sell its 40.29% stake in Irkutskenergo to Telmanskaya GES hydropower utility, part of En+ Group owned by businessman Oleg Deripaska, for 69.5 billion rubles.

Moscow City Telephone Company (MGTS) surged 23.76% to 1,000 rubles per common share and 18.11% to 998 rubles per preferred share after its board of directors recommended dividends for 2015 at 222 rubles per common and preferred share that accounts for 22.6% and 22.3% of their market value, respectively, Manzhos said.

Top Russian lender Sberbank was supported by a stronger ruble and rose 1.26% to 122.6 rubles. The ruble rate against the U.S. dollar was below 65 by the closing bell.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.26	122.60	7.262
Gazprom	-1.11	158.07	5.276
Magnit	+4.36	9430.00	3.606
Lukoil	-1.39	2662.00	2.277
Rosneft	-0.02	322.60	1.469

(64.9306 rubles – U.S. $1)

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