Stocks rise as weak ruble, metals producers support market

MOSCOW, Jul 24 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market grew on Monday because the national indices received support mainly from the weak ruble and rising gold producer Seligdar and steelmaker Severstal, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.48% to 2,937.47 and the RTS decreased 1.08% to 1,023.34.

“The foreign stock floors showed no unity on Monday because of the weak macroeconomic data from the Eurozone and because of expectations from the upcoming meetings of the key central banks. The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS Index still attempted to grow using the support from the ruble as well,” Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The market mood in Russia is still defined by local corporate news and hopes for interim dividends to a large extent, she said.

Seligdar gained 10.22% to 67 rubles as investors still priced in the company’s operating results in January–June and expectations of great dividends, Kozhukhova said.

Precious metals producer Polymetal lost 3.18% to 545.50 rubles. The company confirmed re-domiciliation to Kazakhstan on August 7, and trading in the company’s shares on the Moscow Exchange will be suspended for an unidentified period on Tuesday, she said.

“The Russian stock indices continued rising on Monday. The national shares are still supported by the weak ruble, which did not receive support from an increase of the key rate by the central bank even though it was higher than expected,” Igor Dodonov, analyst at investment company Finam, said.

The market also ignored another exacerbation of the geopolitical tensions after the latest drone attack on Moscow, and decided to focus on corporate stories instead, Dodonov said.

Steelmaker Severstal said that its steel output grew by 9% on the year, while the sales of steel products shrank by 2% because of stock normalization in the supply chain. The company’s shares reacted with a 1.07% increase to 1,287.80 rubles, he said.

Below are the MOEX Russia Index’ five most active stocks on Monday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Magnit	+1.37	5811.50	5.971
Sberbank	+0.34	244.95	4.356
Yandex	+3.55	2622.00	3.026
Norilsk Nickel	-0.20	16050.00	2.570
Lukoil	-0.02	5504.00	2.439

(90.3846 rubles – U.S. $1)

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