Russian stocks likely to open flat due to dull global market mood

MOSCOW, Feb 20 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is to open and trade flat on Tuesday because of a lack of drivers, analysts said.

“The external background gives no impetus for heavy market movements. At the same time, some corporate events may cause a favorable reaction. There is a report about Gazprom’s board of directors meeting on March 5 to discuss a share buyback,” Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev said.

Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s research department, agreed that the global background looks mixed and is likely to have a neutral impact on the local indices.

Shagov expects the MICEX to open almost unchanged from Monday’s closing of 2,255 and to consolidate during the day unless new drivers appear.

The Brent oil price is fluctuating in a $65.4-65.5 range awaiting fresh U.S. inventories statistics from the American Petroleum Institute (API).

The core U.S. benchmarks futures are seen flat and the Asian markets are mixed. The European market will unlikely demonstrate a strong movement at opening as well.

Russian traders may follow IFRS financial results for 2017 of steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) and decisions made by an extraordinary meeting of shareholders of container shipping company TransContainer.

End