Russian stocks can rise at opening on oil price increase above $40

MOSCOW, Jun 3 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is likely to grow at the beginning of the trading session on Wednesday on the back of an oil price rise above the U.S. $40 per barrel, analysts said.

"The external background hints at the possibility of continuation of RTS index increase at the start of trade: the Brent futures are traded at more than $40 per barrel, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) is significantly lower than 98 points, the situation on the developing markets remains quite favorable," investment company Olma’s senior analyst Anton Startsev said.

Sergei Drozdov, analyst at investment company Finam, said that the oil prices grew by 3.5% on Tuesday on expectations that the OPEC plus deal participants would agree to prolong the current terms of oil output restrictions. A report by the American Petroleum Institute (API), signaling that reserves fell by 1.3 million barrels over the week also supported the oil quotations.

On Wednesday, Brent grew by1.74% to $40.26 per barrel as of 9:07 a.m., Moscow time.

The analyst said that the market is waiting for a report of the U.S. Energy Department to be posted on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., Moscow time.

Drozdov put the MOEX Russia Index local support level at 2,770 and 2,720, the key resistance at 2,800. The local support level of the RTS index is estimated at 1,260 and 1,240, and resistance at 1,282 and 1,300. 

Startsev said that the euro zone business activity index and the U.S. ISM non-manufacturing activity may influence the Russian market. Among corporate events, Russian investors will mostly focus on a January–March report by Lukoil under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).   

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