MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. The Russian stock market started the week with strong growth.

By the end of the trading session on the Moscow Exchange, the MOEX index rose by 0.92% to 3,296.75 points, the dollar-denominated RTS index rose by 1.36% to 1,137.53 points.

The yuan-to-ruble exchange rate edged down by 0.008%, to 12.66 rubles, the dollar-to-ruble rate went down by 0.42%, to 91.25 rubles, the euro-to-ruble rate increased by 0.27%, to 99.18 rubles.

"It seems like the MOEX Index has decided to fit the entire potential for changes in the usual five days of trading within the current shortened week. In the first half of the day alone, the indicator of the Russian stock market has already added 0.9%, reaching 3,295 points, and then confidently maintained this growth. By the way, this is its highest value in two years and a strong intention to reach the psychological 3,300 points," said Alexander Shepelev, an expert on the stock market at BCS World of Investments.

Among the companies with the largest weight in the index, the shares of Sberbank, Lukoil, Rosneft, Norilsk Nickel and Surgutneftegas grew the most.

One of the possible reasons for the growth of investor interest in these securities can be assumed to be early attention to future dividends, the analyst said.

"As you know, experts call this year again a record year in terms of profitability, and entering assets without waiting for May does not seem such a bad idea. The fact that investors have enough money for this is evidenced by at least about 40 trillion rubles in bank deposits," he noted.

BCS World of Investments expects that on Tuesday, March 5, the MOEX index will be trading between 3,290 and 3,309 points, the dollar-to-ruble rate will be 91-91.8 rubles.