BLBG:Russian Stocks Snap Two-Day Retreat As Crude Rebounds On Norway
Russian stocks snapped two days of declines as crude oil, the country’s main export earner, rebounded after dropping the most in two weeks.
The Micex Index (INDEXCF) rose as much as 0.6 percent before trading up 0.1 percent at 1,415.75 as of 1:52 p.m. in Moscow. OAO Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel climbed 2.2 percent, while Federal Grid Co., the high-voltage transmission monopoly, added 1.3 percent. The dollar-denominated RTS Index fell 0.5 percent to 1,351.22, while MSCI Inc’s gauge of emerging-market stocks sank 1.1 percent to 935.58.
Crude rose 0.4 percent to $84.82 a barrel in New York, paring a 3.2 percent drop on July 6, the most since June 21. Prices climbed after energy companies and labor unions in Norway failed to reach a compromise to prevent a strike from escalating. Oil and gas account for about 50 percent of Russia’s state revenue.
“Oil may provide some relief if the Norwegian strike extends,” Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Troika Dialog in Moscow, wrote in an e-mailed note to clients. “The oil-price trend will continue to amplify intraday volatility on the equity market.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Alex Nicholson in Moscow at anicholson6@bloomberg.net; Jack Jordan in Moscow at jjordan22@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net
