Russian stocks can rise on strong oil price, bears’ profit-taking

MOSCOW, Sep 22 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market can open higher on Friday thanks to strong crude prices and profit-taking from speculative short positions ahead of the weekend, analysts said.

“We expect purchases of Russian shares at the beginning of the trading session today. A stable crude market situation can support local stocks. Profit-taking from speculative short positions can be another positive factor,” senior analyst at financial supermarket Banki.Ru Bogdan Zvarich said.

From the technical analysis point of view, the MOEX Russia Index on Wednesday and Thursday broke through the support line of 3,075 and the acceleration trend that started from February’s lows, which can point to further downward correction in the next few weeks, he added.

Zvarich also said that the global sentiments are seen as moderately positive with the main Asian markets trading mixed, the core U.S. indices futures trying to recover following two days of decline, and the nearest Brent oil futures adding 0.6% to U.S. $93.8 per barrel.

Alor Broker analyst Alexei Antonov does not rule out that the Russian market can continue its downward trend, but thinks that the market is locally overbought so a bounce-back should appear soon.

He added that many bears will reduce their short positions ahead of the weekend.

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