Russian stocks rise propelled by positive news flow

MOSCOW, Sep 8 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Friday as investor mood was boosted by a positive news flow from the Eastern Economic Forum and some local companies, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 1.12% to 2,032.75 and the RTS increased 0.80% to 1,119.61.

“In general, investors saw results of the Eastern Economic Forum as positive,” Alexei Adonin, an analyst at investment company Veles Capital, said.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that Russia-dedicated funds saw a U.S. $130 million inflow in the week that ended on Wednesday. “It is the largest inflow that we have seen since March. So, we may talk about return of foreign investors to Russian assets against the background of uncertainty of the U.S. dollar and a further growth of developed markets,” he said.

Success of the Eastern Economic Forum promises companies’ capacities loading for years to come, while falling inflation allowed the central bank to talk about reduction of the key rate, which boosts speculative trading in Russia’s OFZ bonds, Kochetkov said.

Irina Rogova, an analyst at the Forex Club group of companies, said that the ruble was under pressure from profit-taking before the weekend helping the ruble-denominated MICEX index to rise.

Adonin also said that oil major Rosneft was the market leader rising 2.92% to 314.95 rubles after the company said that a consortium of the Qatar Investment Authority and Swiss commodity trader Glencore plans to sell 14.16% in Rosneft to China’s GEFC with a premium to the market.

Shares of hydropower giant RusHydro grew 2.98% to 0.8249 rubles after international rating agency Moody’s upgraded its credit rating to Ba2 from Ba1 with a Stable outlook, Adonin said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.03	185.89	11.257
Gazprom	+2.03	120.34	5.013
Rosneft	+2.92	314.95	3.369
MMK	-0.76	41.98	1.719
Norilsk Nickel	+0.16	9675.00	1.683

(57.1411 rubles – U.S. $1)

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