Russian stocks may moderately rise amid improving background

MOSCOW, Feb 4 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market may open higher or flat on Tuesday thanks to a softening foreign background, and it will still highly depend on the global trends in the comings days, analysts said.

“The Russian stock market’s dynamics will heavily depend on global trends in the next few days. We see no prerequisites for reversion to above 3,140–3,150 this week… The nearest support lines for the MOEX Russia Index are at 3,050 and 3,010, breaking through them would erase the entire January’s wave of growth,” Director of BCS Broker’s stock market experts department Vasily Karpunin said.

The external background is mixed with the U.S. indices futures trading flat and Asian markets and the Brent oil futures seen in the positive territory. If the background is unchanged, the MOEX Russia Index may open at the level of Monday’s closing, Karpunin added.

Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev expects the RTS index to edge up at the beginning of the trade session thanks to the improving external environment.

Karpunin also said that companies, oriented to the domestic market, are likely to perform better than exporters on Tuesday although there is a good technical situation for a bounce-back of crude thanks to the OPEC+ states’ intention to temporarily cut production by another 0.5 million barrels per day for the period of coronavirus outbreak.

In Russia, investors may also be interested in the 2019 dividends decision of integrated steel producer Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK).

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