02/18 11:07 Russian shares end up, energy firms top turnover
MOSCOW, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Russian shares ended higher on Thursday, with energy firms leading on a relatively quiet market that was consolidating after last week's rally, traders said.
"There were a lot of nerves today but very few results," said Andrei Kukk, head trader of IBG NIKoil.
Volume on the main market, the Russian Trading System (RTS), was steady at $4.2 million after a previous $4.5 million, but had tailed off after the rally.
The key RTS1-Interfax index <.IRTS> on Thursday ended up a slight 1.11 percent at 66.52 while the Reuters real-time Russian composite <.RRC1> was up 1.03 percent at 176.44.
Kukk said he remained optimistic about the market and welcomed remarks by Mark Mobius, head of emerging markets at Templeton Investment Management, who said Russia would be the best-performing emerging market over the next 12 months.
"(Mobius's remarks) certainly deserve attention because Russia is the only emerging market that has not seen real growth since the recent crises started," Kukk said.
"There just aren't many factors on the downside left to trouble the market. The biggest threat, posssible default (on government debt), was long ago factored into prices."
Mobius told investors in London that despite some concerns, he believed the government would make policy changes to ensure economic stability and restore investor confidence.
Leading bluechips outperformed the market average with regional utility Mosenergo <MSNG.RTS> topping RTS turnover.
Mosenergo closed up 3.59 percent at $0.0205 while Unified Energy System <EESR.RTS> was up 3.27 percent at $0.0410.
Oil major LUKoil <LKOH.RTS> also posted a decent gain, ending up 3.26 percent at $4.75, as did fellow oil company Surgurtneftegas <SNGS.RTS>, up 1.38 percent at $0.0953.
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