Central Bank, Oil, Analyst, All Boost Russian Equities

Russian stocks and ADRs shot higher on Monday after the country’s central bank affirmed plans to reign in collateral-free lending.

According to Reuters, the Russian central bank confirmed its plan to restrict collateral-free loans, which it introduced last fall to ease the impact of the global economic downturn. Paired with an oil rally the news helped the ruble hit five-day highs against the dollar, and an upgrade powered Russia’s top-performing U.S.-listed stock.

As a whole, the Russia Stocks and ADRs Index is up by 2.2% today. The segment remains a laggard over the last month, during which it has trailed the S&P 500 by -7.5%.

Telecom play Vimpel-Communications (VIP) is leading the rally today on an upgrade to Buy from Goldman Sachs. The analyst also upgraded Turkish communications stock Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri (TKC), and cited the stocks’ limited downside risk and attractive exposure to a consumer spending recovery.

Alternative Russian communications plays Mobile TeleSystems (MBT) and Rostelecom (ROS) are moving by 1% in either direction today.

Oil and gas companies Gazprom (OTC: OGZPY) and Lukoil (OTC: LUKOY) are both ahead by more than 1% today, while Surgutneftegas (OTC: SGTPY) trades flat for the session. Russia’s largely oil-tied economy would benefit from a continued rebound in the commodity’s pricing.

Steel giant Mechel (MTL) is also among the day’s winners, up by 5%.

As of this writing, the Russia Stocks and ADRs Index remains the worst one-month performer of tickerspy’s 20 International Stocks and ADRs Indexes, down by -5.4%.

Investors can track the Russia Stocks and ADRs Index for performance trends and a suite of other metrics at tickerspy.com.

Tags: LUKOY, MBT, MTL, OGZPY, ROS, SGTPY, TKC, VIP