Rising oil prices to support Russian stocks at opening

MOSCOW, Jul 3 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks may open higher on Monday supported by increasing oil prices, analysts said.

“The relatively favorable dynamics of oil prices – as futures for the Brent oil are close to U.S. $49 per barrel after the news on a contracting number of drilling rigs in the U.S. – may provide support to shares of Russian companies at the beginning of trade. But there is not enough reason to speak about consistent growth for now,” Anton Startsev, a leading analyst at investment company Olma, said.

Brent rose 0.225% to U.S. $48.88 per barrel as of 9.08 a.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s research department, said that the ultimate influence of the key external factors that have a significant influence on dynamics of the Russian stock market is moderately positive early in the day as oil prices are close to $49, futures for U.S. stock indices are rising, and major Asian floors are in the green zone.

“We expect the Russian market to open in a 1,885 point range of the MICEX index and suppose that the stock indicator may test resistance at around the psychologically important mark of 1,900 later in the day thanks to the favorable external background,” Shagov said.

Startsev said that during the day investors will track business activity data for Western states, including the U.S. ISM Manufacturing index.

Shagov also said that important local corporate events include the ex-dividend date of power producer Unipro and a decision of the Moscow Exchange to pay dividends for January–June.

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