Russian stocks soar on Rosneft privatization, oil price growth

MOSCOW, Dec 8 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks soared on Thursday, with the MICEX index setting a new all-time high, as oil major Rosneft became the bellwether of the market thanks to the news about the company’s privatization, while higher oil prices also prompted some purchases, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 2.15% to 2,207.02 and the RTS increased 2.87% to 1,097.39.

The Brent oil price grew 1.212% to U.S. $53.65 per barrel as of 6.20 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange. Common shares of Rosneft jumped 5.50% to 375.85 rubles.

“On Thursday, Russian stocks were optimistic once again. The MICEX index has hit a new all-time high …The major positive factor for the market was the purchase of a stake in Rosneft by foreign companies, which may act as a signal that local companies are interesting to foreign investors. The additional factor favoring growth were positive dynamics of oil prices,” Irina Rogova, an analyst at Forex Club group of companies, said.

Late on Wednesday, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the government completed a deal to sell a 19.5% stake in Rosneft to Swiss commodities trader Glencore and Qatar’s sovereign fund for 10.5 billion euros.

“The decrease of the government’s stake in the largest oil company may boost transparency of corporate management. This may also become a starting point for privatization of other large state-controlled assets, for a cut of budget deficit, and for an inflow of money to the Russian market in general,” Timur Nigmatullin, an analyst at investment company Finam, said.

Sofya Kirsanova, an analyst at managing company Raiffeisen Capital, said that the external background was also favorable as European trade floors grew on a reassuring statement of the European Central Bank’s President Mario Draghi that the authority will maintain its quantitative easing program until March 2017 and is ready to prolong it and even increase it if necessary.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+5.65	168.98	16.224
Rosneft	+5.50	375.85	9.745
Gazprom	+0.72	153.05	4.798
VTB	+1.25	0.069	2.819
Lukoil	+2.21	3359.50	2.609

(63.9114 rubles – U.S. $1)

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