Russian stocks rise supported by higher US, European shares

MOSCOW, Jun 8 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks rose on Friday, because strong U.S. statistics supported U.S. and European markets and risky assets, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.63% to 1,894.35 and the RTS increased 1.14% to 934.35.

“The Russian stock market finished the week higher amid positive moods on global markets. The key European indices rose by 0.9–2.2% today. U.S. markets showed similar dynamics at the beginning of the trading session,” Veles Capital’s analyst Alexander Kostyukov said.

“Strong U.S. statistics was one of the growth drivers, and risky assets became attractive again,” Irina Rogova, an analyst at ForexClub, said.

Kostyukov said, “The number of employed in the U.S. rose by 287,000 people in June, a record high since October 2015, while it was expected to rise by 187,000.”

Top Russian lender Sberbank increased 1.98% to 134.41 rubles on the back of a stronger ruble. The national currency strengthened to about 64 against the U.S. dollar by the closing bell.

Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said that mobile operator MegaFon fell 5.98% to 660 rubles, Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy Systems (FGC UES) went down 4.84% to 0.155 rubles, construction company Mostotrest decreased 9.25% to 88.3 rubles and gold producer Lenzoloto fell 3.12% to 7,460 rubles per common share and 10.15% to 4,870 rubles per preferred share due to an ex-dividend date.

Rogova said that the telecom sector remained under pressure after a law obliging connection operators and Internet companies to keep records of users’ calls, correspondence and their content had been passed. Telecom giant Rostelecom went down 0.78% to 87.8 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.98	134.41	10.043
Lukoil	+1.46	2788.00	5.320
Gazprom	-0.07	140.27	3.064
Magnit	+5.80	9261.00	2.652
Surgutneftegas pref	+1.16	39.95	1.776

(64.0500 rubles – U.S. $1)

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