Russian stocks rise on oil price growth, positive background

MOSCOW, Jul 14 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Thursday supported by oil prices growing over U.S. $47 per barrel and overall positive foreign background, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.34% to 1,942.46 and the RTS increased 2.11% to 972.44.

“The foreign background is positive. Futures for the U.S.’ S&P 500 and Dow Jones are breaking maximums, futures for European and Asian indices are also demonstrating growth,” Forex Club analyst Irina Rogova said.

The dollar-denominated RTS index significantly increased thanks to strong appreciation of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Electric power companies were among growth leaders. The Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy Systems (FGC UES) rose 4.9%, Enel Russia grew 4.69% and Inter RAO increased 3.51%, Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

A dividend gap in securities of oil company Bashneft led to a decrease of common shares by 4.87%, while preferred shares dropped by 8.65%, Kochetkov said.

Steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) grew 0.84% on reports that the company’s steel output increased by 6% on the quarter and 4% on the year to 4.227 million tonnes in April–June.

Real estate developer LSR Group rose 1.86% on reports that its sales leapt 76% on the year to 37.8 billion rubles in January–June.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.43	140.00	8.549
ALROSA	-0.29	70.99	3.793
Gazprom	+0.42	144.20	3.558
Surgutneftegas pref	+1.00	41.40	3.319
Norilsk Nickel	-0.03	9297.00	1.935

(63.8531 rubles – U.S. $1)

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