Russian stocks rise on oil prices, Sistema news flow

MOSCOW, Sep 5 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Tuesday supported by growing oil prices and a spike in the shares of multi-industry holding Sistema after President Vladimir Putin prompted an amicable deal between the company and oil major Rosneft, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.03% to 2,004.02 and the RTS increased 0.82% to 1,100.83.

“The major event of the day was the statement of the head of the state about a possible amicable deal between Rosneft and Sistema,” Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Putin said after a meeting with Chairman of Sistema’s Board of Directors Vladimir Yevtushenkov and Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, that he expected that they will reach an amicable agreement that is beneficial for both companies and the Russian economy.

Sistema soared 8.77% to 13.645 rubles after the statement, and Sistema’s affiliate mobile operator MTS also gained 1.23% to 264.25 rubles.

Anastasiya Sosnova, a leading analyst at Bank Rossiysky Capital, said that the general situation at the world trade floors was neutral. The U.S. stock indices opened lower after the Labor Day holiday, but the European floors remained flat during the day. The majority of commodity prices increased, including the Brent oil price, she said.

The Brent oil price rose 2.278% to U.S. $53.56 per barrel as of 6.08 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

Kochetkov said that the market reacted to comments by Energy Minister Alexander Novak, who said that Russia and Saudi Arabia discussed the possibility of prolonging a production reduction agreement of OPEC and non-OPEC states beyond the end of March 2018. Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh also said that discussions to prolong the deal are being held, Kochetkov said.

Irina Rogova, an analyst at Forex Club, said that the growth of the MICEX index was restrained due to high geopolitical risks and improvement in the ruble rate, which damages position of exporters.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.02	184.14	6.327
Gazprom	-0.85	116.00	3.109
Sistema	+8.77	13.645	1.750
VTB	-2.48	0.0601	1.646
Aeroflot	+3.88	200.75	1.617

(57.7817 rubles – U.S. $1)

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