Russian stocks rise on higher sovereign rating, positive environ

MOSCOW, Feb 11 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged up on Monday as investors welcomed the upgrade of Russia’s sovereign rating to the investment grade from a junk grade by international rating agency Moody’s and European floors’ positivity, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.30% to 2,510.22 and the RTS rose 0.14% to 1,201.33.

“The decision of Moody’s agency to upgrade Russia’s sovereign rating to the Baa3 investment grade was highly acclaimed by local traders. They even ignored the fact that U.S. legislators plan to consider new anti-Russian restrictions already on Tuesday,” Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

Senior analyst at Promsvyazbank Bogdan Zvarich said that the domestic market was also supported by a positive environment on the European stock exchanges, but was pressured by decreasing crude prices with the Brent price seen more than 1% lower at around U.S. $60–63 per barrel.

Stocks of Russia’s two largest lenders Sberbank and VTB Bank were among the top gainers adding 1.7% to 214 rubles and 1.27% to 0.0376 rubles, respectively.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.7	214	10.600
Gazprom	+0.93	161.29	3.084
Lukoil	+0.62	5419.5	2.305
Rosneft	-0.27	410.5	1.439
Norilsk Nickel	-0.22	13702	1.252

(66.0628 rubles – U.S. $1)

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