Russian stocks likely to open higher due to strong oil prices

MOSCOW, Jun 7 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market may edge up at opening on Thursday due to strong crude prices and moderately positive foreign environment, analysts said.

“We expect the MOEX Russia Index to advance considerably by around 0.5% to 2,325–2,330 at opening… The index may continue growing to 2,340–2,350 later due to evident improvement of the external background. A live conference of President Vladimir Putin slated for today will become a significant internal political event,” Vitaly Manzhos, senior risk manager at investment company Nord Capital, said.

Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev said that the RTS index may also open higher thanks to a moderately positive global environment, but the market activity is likely to cool down prior to the G7 summit planned for Friday–Saturday which is to witness difficult negotiations on mutual trade barriers.

Finam analyst Sergei Drozdov said that the Brent oil price is seen over U.S. $75.8 per barrel ahead of an upcoming meeting to monitor implementation of the OPEC+ oil output cut deal which may result in revision of the agreement.

Russian traders will also follow releases of financial reports of top bank Sberbank for January–May under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) and hydropower giant RusHydro for January–March under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

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