Russian stocks, ruble rebound on morning oil rise

MOSCOW, Nov 16 (PRIME) –Russian stocks rebounded on Monday after a Friday fall and helped by oil prices that rose at the start of the trading session, and a firming ruble, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.67% to 1,739.80 and the RTS increased 1.13% to 824.17.

“On Monday the Russian stock indices rebounded after a fall on Friday (November 13),” Igor Kovalyov, an analyst at InstaForex, said.

“The Russian market grew before noon in line with the oil dynamics. But this factor faded away in late afternoon, and the market started consolidation,” Alexander Kostyukov, an analyst at Veles Capital, said.

The ruble strengthening against the U.S. dollar technically supported the dollar-denominated RTS.

Independent gas producer Novatek, which bought back 200,000 shares from November 9 through November 13, increased 2.17% to 606.1 rubles, Bogdan Zvarich, an analyst at Finam said.

Flagship air carrier Aeroflot fell 2.04% to 52.30 rubles after it said it would suspend all flights to and from Egypt, one of Russia’s top tourist destinations, from December 1 until March 27.

Mobile operator MTS technically rebounded 2.39% to 199.05 rubles, but the rise may be short and unstable, Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Although oil prices plunged to below U.S. $44 per barrel of Brent by the closing bell, the ruble continued strengthening, backed by the start of a new tax period, supported top lender Sberbank, whose shares grew 2.58% to 95.80 rubles, Kostyukov said.

Oil major Rosneft, which received a 1 trillion ruble pre-payment under a long-term contract with China, rose 1.07% to 263.50 rubles, Kovalyov said.

The antitrust allowed agricultural major Rusagro to buy a 32% stake in Razgulay and the latter decreased 1.72% to 11.40 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+2.58	95.80	8.335
Gazprom	+0.89	137.21	4.919
Lukoil	-0.36	2476.00	2.173
Norilsk Nickel	-1.42	9335.00	2.022
Surgutneftegas pref	+0.70	44.31	1.915

(66.6343 rubles – U.S. $1)

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