Russian stocks rise on strong crude, corporate stories

MOSCOW, Oct 25 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market rose on Monday, supported by strong crude oil prices dynamics and positive corporate stories in multiple sectors, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose by 1.38% to 4,254.98 and the RTS increased by 2.21% to 1,919.58.

“The Russian stock market started the week with growth and remains attractive due to the bullish trend in the commodities sector. Oil prices also supported Russian stock exchanges. The price of a barrel of Brent rose to U.S. $86, the highest level since 2018,” Yevgeny Linchik of Sber Asset Management said.

“Positive sentiment prevailed in the domestic stock market on Monday, supported by Brent oil prices, which once again tended to their multi-year highs,” PSB Bank’s Yegor Zhilnikov said.

The Russian ruble showed strong performance today as the dollar/ruble exchange rate was decreasing to 69.97 rubles at the closing, Artyom Tuzov of Univer Capital said.

The financial sector stocks were growing at a brisk pace today, and the retail sector was noticeably better than the market. Mineral fertilizers producers’ stocks were in the positive and share of the national IT-sector leaders were on the rise, Zhilnikov said.

MMK presented expectedly weak financial results for Q3 2021 due to growth of export sales with longer delivery terms amid slowing demand in Russia. The company’s revenues decreased by 6.9% on the quarter to $3.031 billion, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) dropped by 19% to $1.157 billion, and net profit by 20.6% to $819 million in July–September, Zhilnikov said.

According to Zhilnikov, steel sector securities weakened on MMK’s poor figures, while those of non-ferrous metals producers were on the rise today.

Lenta reported strong 3Q21 numbers, with the top line and EBITDA increasing 13.3% and 31% on the year to 118.2 billion rubles and 10.4 billion rubles, respectively. Total sales increased 13.3% in the period to 118.2 billion rubles. Gross profit jumped 19.6% on the year to 27.9 billion in July–September, as seen by PRIME from the Aton Research’s report.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+1.65	364.04	19.330
Sberbank	+1.56	370.04	12.577
Lukoil	+3.77	7,471.5	9.497
Rosneft	+3.36	655.8	5.748
MMK	-2.76	68.275	4.254

(70.8623 rubles – U.S. $1)

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