Russian stocks rise on strong oil, gas despite mixed foreign mood

MOSCOW, Sep 14 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged up on Tuesday thanks to the support of strong crude and gas prices, despite a neutral external background, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.36% to 4,055.70 and the RTS increased 0.2% to 1,754.60.

“The MOEX Russia and the RTS indices stayed in the positive territory at the end of the trading session, close to the peaks of 4,061 (a record high) and 1,760 (the highest since March 2012)… Only temporary correction can prevent the market from further growth,” Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The sentiment on global stock exchanges was neutral with the main U.S. benchmarks trading mixed, European bourses seen moderately negative, and oil prices adding around 0.5%, which supported Russian stocks, she added.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that metals shares decreased in light of weakening metals prices, but the decline was compensated by strong oil and gas prices that pushed oil companies Tatneft, Lukoil and gas producers Gazprom and Novatek upwards.

Kozhukhova said that depositary receipts of agricultural holding Rusagro added 5.75% after its board of directors had approved raising minimum dividends to 50% of the net profit under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) from 25%.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+1.88	339	31.000
Lukoil	+2.8	6600	11.429
Norilsk Nickel	-2.06	23988	6.850
Sberbank	-0.05	327.23	6.843
MMK	-3.48	75.39	5.516

(73.0841 – U.S. $1)

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