Russian stocks can edge down on negative background, falling oil

MOSCOW, Jul 26 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is likely to open lower on Monday in light of a pessimistic external background with the major foreign stock indices and crude prices seen in the negative territory, analysts said.

“We expect the Russian stock market to open negatively due to the ‘head wind’ from China… whose benchmarks have decreased to the spring’s lows and are pulling all emergency markets down,” Andrei Vernikov, head of investment analysis department of Investment Group Univer, said.

Alor Broker analyst Alexei Antonov said that the external background looks disappointing with the U.S. indices futures losing around 0.3%, and crude prices falling 0.7% to below U.S. $73 per barrel.

Industrial and precious metals are trading higher, while gold prices have yet managed to consolidate above U.S. $1,800 per troy ounce, he added.

Russian traders will also follow operating and financial results releases for April–June by grocery retailer Lenta and agricultural holding Rusagro.

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