Russian stocks rise on positivity on global energy, stock markets

MOSCOW, Apr 22 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged up on Wednesday to recoup its losses seen in the previous week thanks to increasing crude prices and positivity on Western bourses, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 3.43% to 2,573.41 and the RTS rose 5.32% to 1,066.01.

“The Russian stock market managed to recoup the previous week’s losses thanks to improving external background. In particular, the domestic stocks were supported by recovery of the energy market with the nearest Brent oil futures adding over 10% to U.S. $21 per barrel by the evening,” senior analyst at Promsvyazbank Bogdan Zvarich said.

The dynamics of the Western stock exchanges also encouraged purchases. Major European indices grew up to 2%, and the main U.S. benchmarks Dow Jones and S&P500 went up 1.4% and 1.6%, respectively, in the first hours of trading, he added.

Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that oil companies Tatneft and Lukoil added significant 7.91% and 5.9% following advancing crude prices.

Zvarich added that IT giant Yandex underperformed falling 0.16%.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Lukoil	+7.5	4,810.5	16.029
Sberbank	+2.23	190.2	14.243
Gazprom	+3.54	188.36	8.975
Rosneft	+5.9	321.95	7.948
Tatneft	+7.91	514.4	6.333

(76.2562 rubles – U.S. $1)

End