Russian stocks may open flat as investors wait for trade talks

MOSCOW, Oct 10 (PRIME) – The Russian stocks are likely to open almost flat on Thursday as investors will wait for news from the U.S.–China trade negotiations, while the external background provides no strong drivers, analysts said.

“The background for the Russian market is neutral prior to the start of trade. The Chinese indices are mixed, oil is contracting slightly, and the increase of the gold price in the first hours of trade is logical as uncertainty is still high before the start of the trade negotiations today,” Vadim Kravchuk, analyst at investment company Solid, said.

Nevertheless, some positive signs for the negotiations emerged yesterday -- China said it will buy more U.S. agricultural goods, and Bloomberg reported that Washington and Beijing will try to sign at least a partial agreement on currency regulation. They haven’t used such strategy yet, meaning some progress can be achieved during the negotiations, Kravchuk said.

Olma’s senior analyst Anton Startsev said that the RTS Index is likely to continue consolidation above 1,300 at the beginning of trade.

“A flow of contradictory media reports on the plans of the U.S. and China maintained increased volatility of the international stock markets before the today’s start of the important negotiations,” Startsev said.

Besides that, investors will track the release of U.K. industrial output figures and the U.S. consumer price index. A consistent trend is unlikely to emerge even at the currency market as long as there is uncertainty about the U.S.–China trade deal, Startsev added.

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