Russian stock market gains on Chinese news and U.S. stats, RTS tops 1,510 points
MOSCOW. Oct 17 (Interfax) - The Russian stock market posted gains on Wednesday thanks to news from China and economic stats from the U.S, which spurred world exchanges forward. The RTS Index was able to go above 1,510 points.
Blue chips on the RTS went up by 2% to 1,513.96 points, its highest point since September 21, while the MICEX rose by 1.3% to 1,474.3 points. Ruble-based benchmark stocks on the MICEX-RTS increased within 3.6%.
Advancers for the day included VTB , up 2%, Gazprom - 1.4%, Gazprom Neft - 1.6%, Lukoil - 1.4%, NOVATEK - 2.7%, MMC Norilsk Nickel - 0.6%, Rostelecom - 1.9%, Sberbank - 1%, Surgutneftegas - 1.2%, Tatneft - 2.8%, Transneft - 3.6%, and Federal Grid Company UES - 0.8%.
Shares in Rosneft went up by 1.6% while TNK-BP's share rose by 3.1% thanks to Western news reports on Rosneft's plans to purchase TNK-BP.
Gains among second tier stocks on the MICEX-RTS Exchange on Wednesday included Mosenergo , up 3.2%, Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel - 2.6%, and Severstal - 2.5%.
Shares in Diod Plant went down by 3.5%, Uralkali - 1.5%, Irkutskenergo - 1%, IDGC Center and Volga - 1%, TGK-14 - 0.8%, and TGK-9 - 0.7%.
Total stock trading on the MICEX-RTS main market for the day came to 35.281 billion rubles (8.133 billion rubles of which went to Sberbank common shares), standard sector deals - $68.06 million, and Classica transactions - $2.487 million.
