Russia Stocks Climb for Second Day on Global Recovery Optimism

Russian (INDEXCF) shares advanced for a second day as investor optimism the global economic recovery is on track spurred appetite for riskier emerging-market assets.

The 50-stock Micex Index added 0.5 percent to 1,491.07 by 11:50 a.m. in Moscow, with 37 stocks rising and 13 declining. Power utilities OAO Federal Grid and OAO Inter RAO UES led gains, adding 2.5 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.

Emerging-market stocks advanced to a two-week high, as record Chinese purchases of foreign currency signaled fund inflows and growth in U.S. service industries lifted exporters. Oil, Russia’s main export earner, was little changed at $90.79 a barrel, after gaining as much as 0.4 percent in New York.

Russian equities have the lowest valuations based on estimated earnings among 21 emerging markets tracked by Bloomberg. The ruble was little changed against the dollar at 30.65 and steady versus the central bank’s target dollar-euro basket at 34.8494.

The Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX), the largest dedicated Russian exchange-traded fund, added 1.3 percent to $28.84 on March 5, snapping three days of declines. The RTS Volatility Index, which measures expected swings in the stock futures, dropped 4.7 percent to 20.46.

The Micex trades at about 5.6 times estimated earnings after gaining 1.1 percent this year. That compares with a multiple of 10.6 times for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and an increase of 0.1 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Nicholson in Moscow at anicholson6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net