12 Jul 2010 19:18

Russian stock market posts gains following release of decent Q2 results from U.S. companies

MOSCOW. July 12 (Interfax) - The Russian stock market opened the week with gains following the release of decent results for the second quarter from U.S. companies.

Benchmark stocks on the MICEX stock exchange went up by 1.54% to 1,344.57 points while the RTS Index increased by 1.98% to 1,386.42 points.

Futures on the RTS Index went down by only 0.3 of a point against the base asset indicating a neutral mood among investors.

Sberbank stocks went up by 2.8% on the MICEX to 79.8 rubles per share and on the RTS - by 2.2% to $2.565.

Advancers for the day also included VTB , up 2%, Gazprom - 1.3%, MMC Norilsk Nickel - 2.1%, Lukoil (RTS: LKOH - 2.1%, Rosneft - 1.1%, Rostelecom - 0.9%, Surgutneftegas - 1.3% and Tatneft - 0.4%.

The main decliner for the day was Polyus Gold , down 0.6%.

Posting gains among secondary stocks on the MICEX were Seventh Continent, up 8.2%, Magnit - 3.6%, FGC UES - 3.3% and RusHydro - 2.8%.

Posting losses were OGK-4 , down 1.7%, Novolipetsk Metallurgical Combine (NLMK) - 0.9% and Raspadskaya - 0.8%.

Total Classic RTS trading for the day came to $3.052 million, RTS Standard - $394.775 million and MICEX Stock Exchange deals - over 42.812 billion rubles.