Russian stocks may grow on surprising oil price increase

MOSCOW, Feb 26 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market may rebound at Thursday opening after losses earlier this week because of an unexpected increase in oil prices, analysts said.

“Today, the market may open with a small upward gap,” Andrei Dirgin, head of Alfa-Forex analytical department, said. “Oil prices, which everyone was expecting to be falling abruptly, behaved in an unpredictable way. Brent surged by more than U.S. $3 and finally reached $61.30.”

On Wednesday, the U.S.’ EIA agency said that weekly oil reserves rose, but this information made no negative influence on oil prices, analysts said.

Brent shed 0.63% to $61.24 per barrel at 9.02 a.m. Moscow time.

The Ukrainian conflict has lost some of its acuteness, according to the news flow, that is why, Russian stocks may rise confidently, Promsvyazbank analysts Ilya Frolov and Yevgeny Lokhtyukhov said.

Investors will pay attention to the release of Germany’s employment figures, the U.K.’s gross domestic product figures and the U.S.’s inflation, Dirgin said.

On the corporate stage, financial report releases of Inter RAO, Mail.Ru Group and Cherkizovo Group will be important for investors, analysts said.

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