Russian stocks rise on stable oil price, lack of drivers

MOSCOW, Jul 1 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks moderately grew on Friday amid oil prices fluctuating around U.S. $50 per barrel and the lack of important news, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.29% to 1,896.62 and the RTS increased 0.27% to 933.32.

“It is quite logical that after recent sharp movements the Russian market has entered the state of temporary balance. A mixed foreign background and an apparent shortage of important internal news have contributed to it,” Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

“The E.U. council has prolonged sanctions against Russia for half a year, but the news was expected and did not have a negative impact on the Russian market,” Vasily Tanurkov, deputy head of the capital market research department of investment company Veles Capital, said.

Mobile operator MegaFon, whose shareholders approved paying 34.993 billion rubles in dividends for 2015 and January–March, closed 2.68% higher.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.64	133.85	8.586
Gazprom	+0.39	140.05	2.183
Magnit	+0.99	9101.00	1.152
Norilsk Nickel	-0.52	8496.00	1.062
Lukoil	+0.86	2707.00	1.026

(64.1755 rubles – U.S. $1)

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