Russian stocks rise on oil price growth, geopolitical lull

MOSCOW, Jan 9 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market grew on Monday in reaction to improvements in the external background and rising oil prices, while a lull in the geopolitical news provided additional support, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.33% to 2,163.50 and the RTS increased 3.72% to 977.79.

“The external background is favorable thanks to another round of coronavirus easing in China promising an increase in the tourist flow and consumer activity, which in its turn should raise demand for oil and other commodities,” Andrei Kochetkov, leading analyst for global research at Otkritie Research, said.

The canceling of restrictions on crossing the internal and external borders in China should raise the passenger flow. Forecasts say that the passenger traffic may double on the year during the upcoming Chinese New Year holidays raising oil demand in the next few weeks. The Brent oil price gained 3.12% to U.S. $81.02 per barrel as of 3.25 p.m. Moscow time, Kochetkov said.

“The Russian stock market grew moderately at the start of trade on Monday, and switched to narrow consolidation after that. The general improvement on the external stock and commodity markets was the reason for that … Also, some sort of stabilization of the geopolitical background and a lack of sanction news also acted as a positive factor for Russian investors,” Finam analyst Igor Dodonov said.

At the same time, there are no significant internal drivers for the Russian stock market right now. In the next few weeks, reinvestment of dividends from the country’s leading oil companies could provide support to the market, but the impact from the factor is not noticeable right now, Dodonov added.

Promsvyazbank senior analyst Yegor Zhilnikov said that national flagship carrier Aeroflot gained 2.36% to 26.06 rubles in reaction to good operating performance in December and the beginning of January. The company’s passenger traffic from January 1 through January 8 rose by 11.3% on the year to 2.26 million people, Zhilnikov said.

The shares of fertilizer producer PhosAgro contracted by 2.88% to 6,300 rubles in reaction to a recent decrease of prices for natural gas in Europe, he said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.73	142.43	4.151
Gazprom	+0.83	163.44	1.378
Pharmsynthez	+36.22	6.055	1.339
Polyus	-0.20	7889.00	1.299
Lukoil	+0.28	4100.50	1.286

(70.3375 rubles – U.S. $1)

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