Russian Oil Shares Up Sharply In Early Trade
MOSCOW, Mar. 11, 1999 -- (Reuters) Russian oil company shares rose sharply in the first hour of trade on Thursday on exceptionally strong turnover that drove major indices to their highest so far this year.
Volume on the main market, the Russia Trading System (RTS), was $5 million at 0900 GMT. RTS turnover was led by oil major LUKoil (LKOH.RTS), up 8.3 percent to $6.50, and Surgutneftegas SNGS.RTS, up 8.35 percent at $0.1155 -- year highs for both companies.
The RTS1-Interfax shares index (.IRTS), comprising deals on the main RTS over-the-counter market, was up 5.95 percent to 81.08 by 0945 GMT, while the broader Reuters real-time Russian composite (.RRC1) was up 8.42 percent to 241.85.
Traders said the gains were based on a combination of factors including healthy growth of world oil prices, the strong performance of Wall Street and optimism over talks between the International Monetary Fund and Russia.
"Some (investment) is oriented on news while other investment is oriented on technical analysis. At the current time, these factors have happily coincided with one another," said IBG NIKoil senior trader Andrei Kukk.
Share prices jumped late Wednesday after the IMF's Moscow representative said a telephone conversation last week between IMF head Michel Camdessus and Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov had identified remaining problems, paving the way for an IMF mission to return to Moscow on Thursday. ( (c) 1999 Reuters)
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