Russian stocks may drop on falling global floors, oil prices

MOSCOW, Mar 16 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks may decrease at the opening on Monday amid negative dynamics on global trade floors and falling oil prices, analysts said.

Negative moods prevail on global markets on early Monday despite active actions of governments and central banks amid the spreading coronavirus, Promsvyazbank chief analyst Bogdan Zvarich said.

After growth by over 9% on March 13, the U.S. stock index futures are falling by more than 4.5%. Main Asian indices are losing within 5%. The nearest futures for Brent oil are losing around 6.6%.

“Taking into account the foreign background, this morning we expect a negative opening of trading on the Russian market. The decline on Asian markets and falling oil prices will help boost sales in Russian securities. In the first minutes of trading, the MOEX Russia Index may lose about 2%, retreating to the lows of last week. At the same time, pressure on our market may persist during the session, which will lead to a further retreat of the MOEX Russia Index to the lower border of the 2,200–2,350 range,” Zvarich said.

The analyst also said he expects the Russian central bank to keep the key rate unchanged at a meeting on Friday.

Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev said, “Today at the beginning of trading, resumption of sales in the stock market is likely. On Sunday (March 15), the U.S. Federal Reserve announced an extraordinary reduction in the base interest rate to 0.25% (the previous decrease to this level was in 2008), however, judging by the dynamics of the U.S. stock index futures, investors doubt the possibility of monetary measures to solve problems caused by restrictions in connection with coronavirus, and see the Fed’s emergency step rather as a recognition of the seriousness of the situation.”

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