Russian stocks may fall at opening as oil prices contract

MOSCOW, Feb 26 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks are likely to contract slightly on Tuesday morning following a decrease in oil prices, analysts said.

“In the short term, consolidation of the RTS index below1,200 is possible. The optimistic mood around trade negotiations of the U.S. and China is not that strong to overcome the negative impact that bad oil price dynamics have on investor activity in the sector of liquid securities,” investment company Olma’s senior analyst Anton Startsev said.

Finam’s analyst Sergei Drozdov said that the Brent oil price lost 3.21% on Monday falling to U.S. $64.79 per barrel after U.S. President Donald Trump expressed dissatisfaction with a too strong growth of oil prices, Drozdov said.

Vitaly Manzhos, senior risk manager at investment company Algo Capital, said that the background for the Russian market was negative in the morning -- the U.S. stock index futures fell by 0.3–0.6%, the Brent oil price was down by 0.4% in addition to the Monday’s decrease, and the Asian bourses were in the red zone.

“We expect the MOEX Russia Index to open with a noticeable contraction of 0.3–0.4% close to 2,485. The levels of 2,470 and 2,460 will act as the closes support, while 2,500 and 2,510 will again become the resistance. The MOEX Russia Index will price in the morning worsening of the external background in the first minutes of the trade,” Manzhos said.

Startsev also said that investors will track corporate reports of metals giant Norilsk Nickel and the country’s second largest bank VTB calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards.

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