Russian stock market may correct as ruble rises

MOSCOW, Aug 10 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is likely to decrease at opening on Thursday as the ruble may continue the corrective growth after the central bank’s decision to suspend the foreign currency purchases by the end of the year, analysts said.

“Weakening of the ruble and growth of oil quotations do not allow sellers to develop correction. Today the ruble opened with growth, so on the stock market I expect a small corrective movement to the area of 3,000–3,030 points,” BitRiver’s financial analyst Vladislav Antonov said.

The decision of the central bank to temporarily suspend the purchase of foreign currency under the budget rule positively affected the ruble dynamics, the analyst also said.

By 9.00 a.m. Moscow time, the dollar is losing a symbolic 0.04%, trading just below 97.2 rubles, the euro and the yuan are adding within 0.2%, rising to 106.8 and 13.46 rubles, respectively, senior analyst at financial supermarket Banki.Ru Bogdan Zvarich said.

During the trading, the ruble may try to continue the corrective growth that began yesterday afternoon, which is supported by both the central bank's decision and further improvement in the energy market, the analyst also said.

However, according to Alexei Antonov, head of Alor Broker’s investment consulting department, the news about the central bank’s decision is positive, but it will not be enough to start strengthening the ruble.

(97.3999 rubles – U.S. $1)

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