Russian stocks rise on ruble strengthening, Brent consolidation

MOSCOW, Mar 24 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks rose on Tuesday backed by the ruble strengthening and the Brent price consolidation between U.S. $55 and $57, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.98% to 1,618.62 and the RTS increased 2.46% to 880.28.

“The RTS was significantly supported by the ruble intraday strengthening against the U.S. dollar once again,” Vitaly Manzhos, analyst at Nord-Capital, said.

The Russian ruble, which technically supported the RTS and secured growth of the ruble-denominated MICEX, rose thanks to the Brent price consolidation and good industrial statistics of the euro zone, Ivan Kopeykin, analyst at BKS Express, said.

Russian exporters, excluding oil and gas companies, are particularly sensitive to ruble dynamics and used to serve as investor havens as the ruble weakened. On Tuesday their oversold shares corrected downward due to the ruble strengthening. Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) fell 2.70% to 14 rubles and coking coal producer Raspadskaya fell 3.66% to 39.5 rubles.

Lenta, which raised $225 million on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) through a global depositary receipts placement, rose 2.01% to 407 rubles. Investors welcomed the offer as the funds will increase retailer’s flexibility needed to open new stores, Anton Fomin, analyst at Instaforex, said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.92	65.60	7.961
Gazprom	+1.89	137.15	4.208
Lukoil	+1.11	2709.70	2.201
Norilsk Nickel	-0.86	10330.00	1.501
MTS	+3.04	246.00	1.039

(59.4452 rubles – U.S. $1)

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