Russian stocks can fall on oil price drop, US sanctions statements

MOSCOW, Feb 28 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market will likely decline at the start of the trading session on Wednesday on the back of a decrease of oil prices and statements concerning new U.S. sanctions against Russia, analysts said.

Vitaly Manzhos, senior risk manager at investment company Nord Capital, said that the external background for the Russian market has deteriorated significantly: “First of all, this materialized in a negative dynamics of oil futures. A recent statement that the sanctions against Russia can be announced in the next 30 days also took its toll. This was reminded by Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin.”

Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s research department, said that an overall influence of the key important factors on the Russian market is negative as the Brent oil trades at about U.S. $66.3 per barrel, as investors are waiting for a release of the U.S. statistics; U.S. stock market futures and Asian markets are mostly falling. The European session premarket signals a decrease later in the day.

Shagov said that the MOEX Russia Index will likely open with a downward gap, at about 2,330–2,335 and can remain under a sales pressure in the conditions of a deteriorating background.

Sberbank and Gazprom Neft are expected to post their financials under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for 2017, which is expected to be the most important corporate events of Wednesday, Shagov said.

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