Russian stocks, ruble, oil higher as US rate rise unlikely soon

MOSCOW, Jun 6 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Monday on higher oil prices and a ruble strengthening against the U.S. dollar on the back of expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) will not increase the key rate in June, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 1.52% to 1,915.54 and the RTS increased 2.25% to 922.91.

“Russian stock indices rose on Monday thanks to higher oil prices and a stronger ruble,” Mikhail Krylov, head of Golden Hills-Kapital’s analytical department, said.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that the Russian stock market was supported by a lower likelihood that the Fed will increase the key rate at the next meeting.

VTB 24 analyst Timur Khairullin said that Fed’s Chairwoman Janet Yellen is unlikely to raise the key rate soon because of weak U.S. labor statistics, which was released on June 3.

Mobile operator MTS jumped 5.53% to 267 rubles after the company said that holders of its common shares can convert their securities into American Depositary Receipts (ADRs).

Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said that Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) fell 2.37% to 25.345 rubles due to dividend cutoff.

Kochetkov said that overbought shares of power companies were under pressure today: Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy Systems (FGC UES) fell 8.49% to 0.1272 rubles, Russian Grids went down 1.36% to 0.5895 rubles and power holding Inter RAO decreased 0.6% to 2.137 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.82	133.99	6.514
MTS	+5.53	267.00	3.699
Gazprom	+2.08	146.40	3.088
Lukoil	+1.01	2613.00	2.598
FGC UES	-8.49	0.1272	1.652

(66.8529 rubles – U.S. $1)

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