Russian stocks may edge down at opening as oil price contracts

MOSCOW, Jul 4 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks may edge down at opening on Tuesday on falling oil prices, while investor activity will be low due to celebrations of Independence Day in the U.S, analysts said.

Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s research department, said that the ultimate influence of the key external factors that have a significant influence on behavior of the Russian stock market is moderately negative at the beginning of the day. Futures for the U.S. stock indices are falling, the major Asian floors are in the red zone, and oil prices are contracting under the pressure from data showing oil production growth in Libya and Nigeria, which were exempted from the OPEC oil cut deal.

“We expect the Russian stock market to open around 1,900 of the MICEX index and suppose that it will remain around the current levels due to a low activity of investors as the news flow is sparse and the U.S. is on holiday,” Shagov said.

Anton Startsev, a senior leading analyst at investment company Olma, said that the RTS may continue consolidation around a psychologically important level of 1,000.

“Celebration of Independence Day in the U.S. means lower activity of non-residents and a slowdown of potential news drivers for changes in the trade,” he said.

Bogdan Zvarich, an analyst at investment company Finam, also said that contraction of futures for U.S. stocks and losses of major Asian bourses make a negative background for the Russian market, which may result in a slight slide at the start of trade. “It is worth noting that oil prices may resume their growth during the day, which will support Russian assets,” Zvarich said.

Shagov also said that among local corporate news, investors will watch the Moscow Exchange data on the trade volume in June.

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