Russian stocks may open flat as background sends mixed signals

MOSCOW, Aug 10 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is likely to start the Tuesday trade session with neutral dynamics as the external background sends mixed signals for the national market, analysts said.

“The external background prior to the start of trade in Russia is neutral with a slight uptick,” Andrei Kochetkov, leading analyst for global research at Otkritie Broker, said.

The Asian markets are mainly in the green zone, prices for oil and commercial metals stopped falling and are trying to regain some ground, but dynamics of the foreign currency market do not reflect any noticeable change in the mood of players, Kochetkov said.

“A decrease of up to 0.5% is possible. The external background does not provide any definite signals. The MOEX Russia Index guidance is the range of 3,780–3,820,” Georgy Vashchenko, head of Freedom Finance’s department for operations on the Russian stock market, said.

But Andrei Vernikov, head of the investment analysis and education department of investment company Univer Capital, said that the partial recovery of oil prices means that the Russian market may start the day with a moderate increase. “For the RTS Index, the resistance level remains the same at 1,663–1,665,” he said.

Yelena Kozhukhova, analyst at Veles Capital, said that the world’s exchanges started the trade week with fears over the virus situation in China and the U.S. and sales mainly in commodity goods.

“Given the background, the Russian indices and the foreign stock floors looked rather stable, as corporate stories helped them. We see no panic on the market in spite of a slump of oil prices, which can be considered as an optimistic signal. Even if investors are aimed at a downward correction, it will only happen in the form of a slight profit taking,” Kozhukhova said.

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