Russian stocks can grow on $70 oil price, rising foreign markets

MOSCOW, Jan 15 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market can increase at Monday opening as oil prices are close to U.S. $70 per barrel and foreign markets are growing, analysts said.

“The external background is comparably positive at the start of the trade but a certain cooling is possible during the day due to a holiday in the U.S.,” Anton Startsev, a leading analyst at investment company Olma said.

The U.S. markets will be closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Emerging markets assets are attractive for investors because of expectations of weakening of the U.S. dollar, Startsev added.

Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s research department, said that the external background for the start of the trade in Russia is moderately positive with the Brent price close to U.S. $70 per barrel, growing U.S. stock market futures and Asian markets, and the European premarket signaling a small increase later on Monday.

The MOEX Russia Index can open at 2,265–2,270 and continue to rise, he said.

Sberbank will release a financial report under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) for 2017. Gazprom will publish the results of a meeting of the board of directors concerning changes in the program of a spin-off of non-core assets.

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