Russian stocks rise on oil price increase, ruble strengthening

MOSCOW, Jun 9 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks rose on Tuesday as the MICEX was supported by a rebound of Brent oil prices to U.S. $64.5 per barrel by the end of the trading session and the RTS received some support from the ruble strengthening to below 55.7 against the U.S. dollar, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 1.04% to 1,664.01 and the RTS increased 2.20% to 943.54.

Rising oil prices were the main reason behind the MICEX growth, Timur Nigmatullin, an analyst at Finam, said. “Nevertheless, I don’t think that the dynamics is steady,” he said, adding that a further growth potential of the MICEX is limited amid a quite strong ruble, falling European stock indices and the remaining uncertainty about the Ukrainian conflict.

The growth of Russian stock indices was secured by an increase in Brent oil prices on market expectations that U.S. oil companies will cut oil output on the back of an OPEC decision to keep oil quotas at the same level, Yevgenia Abramovich, director of the Dukascopy Bank SA’s department for partnership relations with the CIS, said.

The growth of the dollar-denominated RTS was supported by the ruble strengthening, Nigmatullin said. Market participants also welcomed the central bank’s flexible approach to foreign currency interventions, as the regulator purchases no currency amid increased volatility, he said.

Magnit rose 3.29% after publishing strong revenue results for May, Veles Capital said in a research note.

Inter RAO fell 4.23% due to the closure of the shareholder register for dividends, Anton Fomin, an analyst at InstaForex, said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.50	70.21	6.851
VTB	-0.18	0.08175	5.666
Gazprom	+2.46	146.17	3.603
Lukoil	+2.12	2606.00	2.336
Norilsk Nickel	-2.54	9701.00	2.098

(56.0435 rubles – U.S. $1)

End