Russian stocks rise on stable oil prices, Putin’s comments

MOSCOW, Apr 16 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks showed a moderate growth on Thursday backed by stable oil prices and President Vladimir Putin’s positive comments on the country’s current economic and financial situation, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.54% to 1,686.79 and RTS increased 0.88% to 1,061.60.

The economic recovery in Russia will require less than two years, Putin said during an annual Direct Line Q&A session on Thursday. “Inflation has started demonstrating signs of slowing, the ruble has stabilized, and oil prices continue recovering,” TeleTrade analyst Alexander Yegorov said.

Banks’ loan portfolios continue growing, while the country’s combined banking assets exceeded gross domestic product for the first time in 2014, Putin said.

Brent oil prices maintain the level of U.S. $62–63 per barrel, analysts said.

Russian Internet giant Yandex grew 6% on the news that the E.U.’s competition regulator initiated a probe into Yandex’ competitor Google accusing the company of illegally abusing its dominance of the Internet search market in Europe by favoring its own comparison-shopping product when consumers shop online. The investigation results may bring harm to Google’s operating activity, which will strengthen Yandex’ positions, InstaForex analyst Anton Fomin said.

Steelmaker Severstal was among outsiders, having fallen by 2.48% on expectations of a lower demand for steel products from China, the biggest steel importer, whose economic growth slowed to 7% in January–March, Raiffeisen Capital analyst Sofya Kirsanova said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.01	76.50	13.501
Gazprom	+1.53	152.40	6.457
Norilsk Nickel	-1.57	9480.00	3.723
Lukoil	-0.58	2580.00	3.528
Sberbank prefs	+0.17	54.50	1.750

(50.5033 rubles – U.S. $1)

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