Russian stocks may edge up on oil price rise, ruble dip

MOSCOW, Oct 13 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is likely to firm at opening on Friday, as the oil prices increased, while the ruble eased after recovery, analysts said.

"Today's morning invites continuation of yesterday's increase across the board – oil is getting pricier by 0.7% trading at about U.S. $86.7 per barrel, the ruble is decreasing weakly," Alor Broker analyst Alexei Antonov said.

The analyst added that investors will likely avoid large purchases because of geopolitical uncertainty stemming from military actions in Israel.

The ruble grew on Thursday after President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on obligatory foreign currency revenue sales for 43 Russian exporters, which will raise foreign currency supply to the Russian market, BitRiver financial analyst Vladislav Antonov said.

At the same time, stable ruble strengthening calls for a solution of the fundamental problems: inflation, higher investment attractiveness, curtailing capital outflow and growth of exports in spite of sanctions. "In the long run, ruble strengthening will depend on toughening of the monetary policy by the central bank and improvement of Russia's trade balance," the analyst said.

Oil grew slightly and traded at U.S. $86.62 per barrel of Brent on Friday in the morning. BitRiver's Antonov said that a steep growth of the U.S. oil reserves slowed down the price rise. However, both the International Energy Agency, and OPEC forecast higher demand for 2023 and 2024, which supports the prices.

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