Russian stocks can rise slightly on oil price resurge

MOSCOW, Jul 26 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market will likely open with a small upward gap on Wednesday because a positive effect of a rebound in oil prices will be moderated by foreign market inertia, analysts said.

“We can expect a certain rebound of Russian stock market indices today at the start of the trading session due to the oil and gas sector: Brent oil futures came back to the zone above U.S. $50 per barrel after a report by the American Petroleum Institute (API) on a decrease of crude reserves in the U.S. by 10 million barrels a week,” Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev said.

Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s research department, said that overall, the external background is close to neutral as U.S. stock market futures are little changed, Asian stock market indices are mixed and the European premarket signals marginal changes during the trading session start later in the day.

The MICEX is expected to open at about 1,925 and can continue to fluctuate close to the level, he said.

Startsev said that U.S. oil reserves statistics by the Energy Department and a decision by the Federal Reserve System (Fed) on the key rate later on Wednesday can influence the Russian market trends.

According to Shagov, operating results by Raspadskaya and financial results of Novatek under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and of Inter RAO under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) will be the most important corporate reports.

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