MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/. The Russian stock market closed in the "green zone" on Monday.

By the end of the day, the MOEX index rose by 1.61% up to 2,596.11 points, the dollar-denominated RTS index rose by 2.21%, up to 1,004.62 points.

The dollar-to-ruble rate fell by 0.47% to 81.4 rubles, the euro rate dropped by 1.16%, to 89.15 rubles, the yuan rate fell by 0.69% to 11.814 rubles.

"Remaining true to the trend of recent weeks, the Russian market opened with good growth, and already at the start, the MOEX index added more than 1.5%. As for the blue chips, [shares of] Gazprom, Sberbank and Lukoil pulled the index up. Aeroflot also showed good growth from the morning on," says Alexander Shepelev, an expert on the stock market at BCS World of Investments.

On Monday, the leaders of growth were shares of the following companies: TMK (+9.1%), Mechel (+7.8%), HSCI shares (+6.4%). The leaders of a slight decrease were the shares of Sovcomflot (-0.07%) and Rusal (-0.02%).

According to a forecast by BCS World of Investments, on Tuesday, April 18, the MOEX index will be in the range of 2,560-2,580 points, the dollar-to-ruble rate will be in the range of 79 - 82 rubles.

Freedom Finance Global expects that on Tuesday the MOEX index can fluctuate between 2,500 and 2,600 points. The dollar and euro rates are seen at the level of 80-82.5 rubles and 89 - 91 rubles, respectively. The yuan-to-ruble rate can vary between 11.7-12 rubles.