24 May 2010 19:23

Russian stock market opens week with cautious growth

MOSCOW. May 24 (Interfax) - Heightened volatility amid strongly contrasting external factors marked the start of the week for Russian stocks, but shares rose on Monday behind rising oil.

The RTS index closed up 1.06% at 1311.7 points, having gone to 1330 points at one point during the day. The MICEX index was up 0.35% at 1269.37 points, having topped 1286 in the morning. And the main benchmark stocks were a mixed bag, moving 0.1%-3.2% in either direction.

On the MICEX, VTB closed up 1%, Gazprom gained 0.7%, Lukoil rose 0.2%, Rostelecom 0.8%, Sberbank of Russia 1%, Surgutneftegas 3.2%, and Tatneft 1.5%.

Gazprom Neft was down 0.5% on the day, Polyus Gold lost 1.9%, Rosneft dipped 0.2%, and Norilsk Nickel dropped 3% after the company's shareholder register closed last Friday.

On the MICEX second tier, Inter RAO UES closed up 7.6%, KamAZ rose 5.6% on the day, Magnit (RTS:MGNT) was up 4.4%, Uralsvyazinform 3.6%, TMK 3.3%, Northwest Telecom prefs were up 3.5%, and Volgatelecom 3.4%.

Mechel closed down 5.3%, TGK-9 lost 4.5%, Belona 3.2%, VSMPO-Avisma 3.1%.

Combined trading on the RTS Classic stood at $10.31 million for the day, the RTS Standard posted $493.5 million, and MICEX trading topped 49.44 billion rubles.