Russian stocks may open flat on Monday on lack of drivers

MOSCOW, Aug 6 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks are likely to open unchanged on Monday due to the lack of strong drivers, analysts said.

“From the point of view of technical analysis, the scenario of the RTS index consolidating around 1,150 remains the most relevant,” Anton Startsev, a senior analyst at investment company Olma, said.

“The gap between the figures of comparative multipliers of the world stock indices and the RTS index is large, but no drivers have emerged for the difference to narrow down.”

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that the loss of Russia-dedicated funds that amounted U.S. $11 million in a week that ended on August 1, down from $66.6 million lost in the previous week meant that everyone who wanted to leave the market has already done that, and only the players that are interested in buying into one of the most underpriced markets are left.

“The upcoming week is not rich with macroeconomic events, and politics may take a break as the U.S. and Russian lawmakers go on vacation. So, we expect neutral dynamics in a few coming days,” Kochetkov said.

But Alexei Antonov, an analyst at Alor Broker, expected a positive start of the day thanks to the favorable external background.

“The external background for the Russian stock market is positive. Futures for the U.S. indices are growing by 0.1%...and the oil price does not want to fall after being scared by last Friday’s the news that China may slap a 25% duty on U.S. supplies of liquefied natural gas and a duty on U.S. oil imports,” Antonov said.

Antonov also said that the market would receive support from the weakening ruble that happened in line with strengthening of the U.S. dollar on the global markets and an outflow of investors from the emerging markets.

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