Russian stocks may open down on oil price contraction

MOSCOW, Dec 7 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks are likely to edge down at opening on Thursday as investors will price in Wednesday’s fall of oil prices, analysts said.

“Today a downward correction of the RTS index is possible at the beginning of trade, as yesterday’s contraction of oil prices, which happened after the U.S. Department of Energy data showed a noticeable increase in gasoline reserves over the previous week, has not been fully priced in by shares of the Russian oil and gas sector,” Anton Startsev, a leading analyst at investment company Olma, said.

The Brent oil price fell 2.41% to U.S. $61.38 per barrel as of 9.00 a.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

“We expect the Russian stock market to open around 2,120 of the MOEX Russia Index and suppose that the stock indicator will continue to consolidate around the current levels due to a low activity of investors, which is conspicuous for its low turnover, which fell yesterday to a six-week low,” Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid research department, said.

But Vitaly Manzhos, a senior risk manager at investment company Nord Capital, said that the external background has improved in the morning. The U.S. stock index futures are growing within 1%, and Japan’s Nikkei225 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng grew 1.25 and 0.5%, respectively. This partially offsets the negative impact of Wednesday’s fall of oil prices, he said.

“We expect the market to open with an insignificant change close to a 2,125-point level of the MOEX index. The levels of 2,110 and 2,100 will become the closest support, while the levels of 2,130 and 2,140 points will act as resistance,” Manzhos said.

Shagov said that investors will track a release by top bank Sberbank of its November financial results calculated under Russian Accounting Standards; a forum of the Moscow Exchange; uncut diamond mining giant ALROSA’s publication of November sales data; and a decision by power producer Unipro’s shareholders on dividend payments.

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