MOSCOW, September 04. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian stocks edged up on Thursday after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he may order a ceasefire if a contact group meeting in Minsk on Friday reaches an agreement on the ceasefire plan, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.56% to 1,457.34 and RTS increased 0.18% to 1,214.51.

“Russian stocks have climbed in the green zone by the end of the trading session. Poroshenko’s ceasefire promise in Ukraine’s south-east helped it a lot. The rebels agreed with the ceasefire, and the market players took it as one more step towards peace in Ukraine,” Ivan Kivin, analyst at TenkoFX, said.

Poroshenko said the Ukrainian troops will be ordered to cease fire on Friday at 15.00 Moscow time, if a contact group reaches a deal in Minsk. Leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky said they are ready to issue ceasefire orders if the Ukraine representatives sign a plan on political settlement of the conflict.

“Our markets were also supported by the European Central Bank’s (ECB) decision to stimulate economic growth. Such an unexpected outcome increased investor appetite to risk and brought risky players back to emerging markets,” Sofya Kirsanova, analyst at Raiffeisen Capital, said.

The ECB said it will cut its three key rates: the base rate to 0.05% from 0.15%, the deposit rate to -0.2% from -0.1% and the marginal rate to 0.3% from 0.4%. The bank also launched a program to buy asset-backed securities to spur up economic growth.

Pharmacy Chain 36.6 soared 8.96% to 14.10 rubles after the company’s board of directors recommended the shareholders approve Palesora Limited’s mandatory offer of 14.5 rubles per share under the chain’s merger with A.V.E. Group.

Bank Saint Petersburg grew 1.18% to 34.40 rubles a report of a January-June net profit soaring 45.7% on the year to 2.919 billion rubles.