Russian stocks may open flat due to mixed drivers

MOSCOW, Mar 20 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market may open flat and consolidate later on Wednesday due to a mixed global environment with investors careful prior to a meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s open market committee, analysts said.

“We expect the MOEX Russia Index to open with marginal changes of 0.1–0.3% within a 2,485–2,500 range… and to consolidate later in the day… Publication of an oil inventories report by the U.S. Department of Energy at 5:30 p.m. Moscow time may influence the local benchmarks considerably,” Vitaly Manzhos, senior risk manager at investment company Algo Capital, said.

Vadim Kravchuk, analyst at investment company Solid, said that the external background is neutral with lower trade volume ahead of the upcoming meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s open market committee. Investors are sure that the key interest rate will remain unchanged, but the authority’s comments may be surprising.

The main U.S. indices futures are around 0.1% lower, crude prices and Asian markets look mixed.

Investors will also follow publication of IFRS financial results for 2018 and October–December 2018 by fertilizer producer PhosAgro, grocery retailer X5 Retail Group and Bank Saint Petersburg among other corporate events.

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