OAO RusHydro rose to a three-week high after President Vladimir Putin said Russia’s largest hydropower company is undervalued and the state won’t sell its stake at the current price.

The stock advanced 4 percent to 86.07 kopeks by the close in Moscow, the strongest level since June 18. RusHydro is down 11 percent this year, compared with a 1.5 percent rise for the Micex Index. The company’s London-traded shares were up 4.1 percent at $2.567.

Putin’s “comments about RusHydro being undervalued remove the near-term risk of stock overhang,” Bruce Bower, a partner at Moscow-based hedge fund Verno, which manages more than $200 million in Russian equities, said by e-mail.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ksenia Galouchko in Moscow at kgalouchko1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alex Nicholson at anicholson6@bloomberg.net