Russian stocks may open flat amid oil price rising to $54

MOSCOW, Apr 5 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks are likely open with marginal changes on Wednesday on the back of an oil price increase to U.S. $54 per barrel but the positive impact will be limited due to an absence of other strong supporting factors, analysts said.

“The ultimate influence of key external factors that have a significant impact on the Russian financial market is close to neutral today at the start of the day in our estimates,” Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s research department, said.

Brent has held above $54.5 on the back of a release of statistics indicating a decrease of oil reserves in the U.S. Futures for U.S. stock market indices slightly fell, Asian markets are mixed and the European premarket signals a small increase later, at the session start. All these factors will contribute to a neutral background at the Russian trading session start, Shagov said.

The MICEX is expected to open at 2,025–2,030 on Wednesday after closing at 2,025.69 on Tuesday, and to continue to recover after last week’s losses, Shagov said.

Finam analyst Bogdan Zvarich said that Russian stocks are very likely to grow later in the day.

Russian investors will pay attention to the U.S. statistics to be posted in the evening. The U.S. Energy Department will publish oil reserves data at 5:30 p.m. Moscow time, which will be very important, Zvarich said.

An annual Moscow Exchange Forum will start on Wednesday and will attract investors by a large list of state officials, business representatives and experts as the speakers, Shagov said.

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