Russian stocks rise supported by shares of Sberbank

MOSCOW, Aug 7 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Monday as Sberbank pulled the market higher following the publication of upbeat financial results, possibly indicating a change in foreign investors’ attitude toward the market, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.86% to 1,970.37 and the RTS increased 0.58% to 1,032.68.

“Sberbank again became the major driver for the market after it published a financial report under Russian Accounting Standards for January–July,” Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Sberbank’s net profit jumped 35.6% on the year pushing the shares 1.80% higher to 172.79 rubles.

Kochetkov said that a diplomatic crisis between Moscow and Washington has run out of steam for the market. “In general, the market looked rather strong even though the major component of the strength lied within securities of Sberbank. The papers have repeatedly proven the fact that the interest in shares of Russia’s largest bank is often a harbinger of changes in relation of investors toward the whole market,” he said.

Sergei Melnikov, chief analyst at Forex broker Global FX, said that Russian benchmarks grew in spite of a fall of oil prices.

“Brent oil has been under the pressure since the very beginning of the day. News from Libya, where the largest oil field stopped production of oil due to a strike, did not manage to support the bulls. The price stands below $52 waiting for the results of a (Monday–Tuesday) OPEC meeting that may support the recovery of last week’s bullish move,” Melnikov said.

Igor Kovalyov, an analyst at InstaForex, said that shares of uncut diamond mining giant ALROSA lost 1.44% to 82.05 rubles as the company will have to revise production plans for 2017. On August 4, the company’s Mir mine was flooded with water, while emergency services are unable to find eight trapped miners.

Kochetkov also said that Russian depositary receipts (RDRs) of aluminum giant UC RUSAL were among the gain leaders adding 6.14% to 375 rubles because of the plan to suspend the RDR program on August 17 and exchange each RDR for 10 common shares. The company also plans to switch from production of primary aluminum to products with a higher added value, he said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.80	172.79	6.111
ALROSA	-1.44	82.05	2.713
Gazprom	+0.04	119.50	2.609
Norilsk Nickel	+1.88	9270.00	1.931
Lukoil	+0.50	2917.50	1.136

(60.3281 rubles – U.S. $1)

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