Russian stocks may open flat as EU sets up no new sanctions

MOSCOW, Jan 30 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market may open flat on Friday because the E.U. foreign ministers decided against immediately imposing new anti-Russian sanctions on Thursday evening and the oil price has changed marginally lately, analysts said.

“No reasons for strong market dynamics have appeared. Indefinite oil price dynamics and risks of negative influence from Western sanctions are the factors which hold buyers down,” Olma’s senior analyst Anton Startsev said.

On Thursday, the E.U. foreign ministers introduced no new sanctions against Russia but they ordered European authorities to start considering ways to scale the sanctions up.

Brent price kept flat at U.S. $49.10 per barrel at 9.04 a.m. Moscow time.

In Asia, the Nikkei rose 0.45%, but the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s index fell 0.13% at 9.06 a.m. Moscow time. In the U.S., the trend of stock futures was mostly negative with only NASDAQ growing, all these factors are slightly negative for the Russian market, Promsvyazbank’s analysts Ilya Frolov and Yevgeny Loktyukhov said.

Investors will continue purchases of Russian exporters’ shares outside the oil and gas sector, and these shares will support the market at large on Friday, the analysts said.

Norilsk Nickel’s performance report will come to the fore on Friday, Andrei Dirgin, head of Alfa-Forex analytical department, said.

The euro zone’s consumer prices and the U.S. preliminary gross domestic product report will also be important for investors, he said.

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