Russian stocks rise on ruble, Brent rise, oil market news

MOSCOW, Jan 15 (PRIME) -- The Russian stocks rose on Thursday on the ruble and oil price strengthening, but the growth was curbed by market fears that Standard & Poor’s rating agency will downgrade the country, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.56% to 1,563.21 and RTS increased 2.60% to 762.39.

“The strengthening ruble, which rebounded to above 65 rubles per U.S. dollar, and the Brent price rise to over $48 per barrel triggered the growth of the MICEX and the RTS, which was enforced by a technical correction. Nonetheless, the increase was limited as fears that S&P will downgrade Russia are still there,” Sergei Filchenkov, analyst at Metropol, said.

The growth leaders included the financial and banking sector and exporters, the expert said.

The oil sector welcomed that Britain’s Royal Dutch Shell and Premier Oil announced freezing of projects and British Petroleum announced plans to speed up staff cuts, Kirsanova said.

The oil sector growth was propelled by the Oil Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which said that non-OPEC countries will increase their 2015 output at a slower speed than in 2014, Andrei Dirgin, head of Alfa-Forex analytic department, said.

VTB Bank rose 4.38% to 0.06273 rubles after the news that it will receive state funding via OFZ bonds on Wednesday, Sofia Kirsanova, analyst at Raiffeisen Capital, said.

Sberbank, which can receive a 600 billion ruble subordinated loan from the central bank, rose 2.91% to 61.580 rubles, she said.

Gazprom rose 0.48% to 147 rubles per share after it had reached an initial agreement on the liquefied natural gas supplies to Egypt over the next five years.

Magnit decreased 1.28% to 11,304 rubles showing downward correction after rise on strong financial results on Tuesday, Filchenkov said.

Oil company Rosneft rose 4.96% to 219.90 rubles, while Tatneft increased 4.01% to 137.5 rubles and Bashneft rose 2.28% to 1,302 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+2.91	61.580	11.117
Gazprom	+0.48	147.00	4.854
Lukoil	+1.19	2618.90	3.371
Norilsk Nickel	-3.23	9290.00	2.545
VTB	+4.38	0.06273	2.379

(66.0983 rubles – U.S. $1)

End