Russian stocks rise on oil price increase, dividend news

MOSCOW, Jun 13 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market increased moderately on Thursday on the back of an oil price rise and dividend news from local companies, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index added 0.24% to 2,758.36, and the RTS index grew 0.27% to 1,346.98.

“The MOEX Russia Index started in the red zone on Thursday but shortly became positive and in spite of a difficult external background, reached new highs of above 2,750. The recovery of oil prices, the dividend factor and continued resilience against the sanctions rhetoric on Nord Stream-2 allowed the market to reach new records today,” Sergei Deineka, financial analyst of BCS Premier, said.

Freedom Finance’s analyst Anastasia Sosnova said that the external background for the Russian trading session was mixed as the Asian floors were volatile amid protests in Hong Kong and the U.S.–China trade disputes, but investors still were moderately optimistic about easing of policies by the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed).

Brent rose by more than 3% to U.S. $62 per barrel due to a tanker explosion in the Gulf of Oman, she said.

Deineka said that Inter RAO was among the leaders of the Russian market on the news that part of revenue from the sale of a stake in Irkutskenergo will be spent on dividends for 2018.

Metals companies continued to grow on China’s news about large infrastructure projects and before a period of record dates next week, Deineka said.

Magnit decreased 3.46% on dividend cut-off, ALROSA 2.71% on a report about a 31% fall in diamond sales in January–May, the analyst said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.95	240.49	17.852
Gazprom	-0.18	234.44	8.332
Lukoil	-0.51	5210.5	5.196
Inter RAO	+4.54	4.4585	3.533
Norilsk Nickel	+2.6	14676	3.263

(64.5158 rubles – U.S. $1)

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