Russian stocks can fall in reaction to sales in US, Asia

MOSCOW, May 19 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is likely to start the Thursday trade with sales as the local investors will price in the Wednesday slump of the U.S. stock market and the Thursday sales in the Asian shares, analysts said.

“The mood of investors on the global markets can be seen as mixed this morning. On the one hand, the leading Asian floors are losing up to 1.9% in reaction to a negative closing of the U.S. indices. On the other hand, the futures for the main U.S. indices are gaining up to 0.2% in a correctional attempt for growth, while the closest futures for the Brent oil price are rising by 1% and trading close to U.S. $110.3 per barrel,” Bodgan Zvarich, senior analyst at Banki.ru, said.

Still, the Russian market may fall under the influence of recent sales on the foreign stock indices, causing sales at the beginning of trade on Thursday. If the negative mood prevails in the second half of the day, the MOEX Russia Index may end Thursday lower than 2,400, Zvarich said.

Management company Alfa-Capital’s senior trader Vladislav Silayev said that the U.S. bourses experienced a serious sale on Wednesday, as the investors reacted to technical signals and a weak financial performance of retailers caused by a high inflation. The Asian bourses are falling on Thursday morning, which creates a prominently negative background for the Russian market, he said.

“As a result (of the Wednesday sales in the U.S. stocks and the fall of oil prices), the MOEX Russia Index failed to overcome the resistance line of 2,450, which could have provided chances for creation of an upward trend. We see no drivers that support the charge of that line on Thursday morning. It is possible that the sales, which were not that active yesterday, will continue in the first few hours of trade today,” Alexei Antonov, head of Alor Broker’s investment consulting department, said.

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