Russian stocks open higher on Fri; MICEX index up 0.4 to 1,050.78 pts
MOSCOW. July 31 (Interfax) - Russian stocks opened higher on Friday with the blue chips gaining up to 1.4% in the first minutes of trading on positive external factors.
The MICEX index was up 0.41% to 1,050.78 points as of 10:32 a.m.
Advancers included MMC Norilsk Nickel - up 1.4%, RusHydro - up 1.2%, Polyus Gold - 1.1%, Rostelecom - 0.9%, VTB - 0.8%, Rosneft - up 0.6%, Surgutneftegas - 0.5%, Gazprom - up 0.5%, Sberbank Russia - up 0.4%, Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) - up 0.4%, Gazprom Neft - up 0.4% and Severstal - up 0.2%.
Analysts said Russian stocks gained at the open on favorable external factors, with global equities markets posting gains yesterday that continued on most Asian markets on Friday morning, and U.S. futures indicate continuing investor optimism. Last but not least, the continuing rise in oil prices - Brent futures were up 0.85% to $70.69 per barrel on July 31 - also contributed.
RTS$#&: CHMF, GAZP, GMKN, HYDR, MTSS, PLZL, ROSN, RTKM, SBER, SIBN, SNGS, VTBR