Russian stocks can drop as oil prices slide to 6-month lows

MOSCOW, May 5 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market will likely open with a downward gap on Friday after oil prices slid to their lows since November 2016 early in the morning, analysts said.

“The ultimate influence of key external factors that have a significant impact on the Russian financial market is negative today at the start of the day, in our estimates,” Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s research department, said.

Oil prices slid below U.S. $47 per barrel on the back of aggressive sales by hedge funds ahead of the U.S. drilling activity data release, Shagov said.

U.S. stock market futures and Asian markets are shedding; the European premarket also signals downward dynamics later in the day. All these factors will make up for a negative background for the start of the trade in Russia, he said.

The MICEX can open at 1,985–1,990 and can resume the decline later, Shagov said.

The U.S. and Canada will publish employment data. Russia will release inflation statistics and Canada will release business activity data. U.S. Federal Reserve System’s officials, including Chairwoman Janet Yellen, will give speeches. Baker Hughes will publish rig count data. According to Sergei Kozlovsky, head of the analytical department of brokerage company Grand Capital, this will be the most important data for investors.

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