Russian stocks may open flat on lack of drivers

MOSCOW, Jul 28 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks are likely to open flat on Thursday on a market lacking drivers early in the day as it shrugged off comments made after a U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) meeting, analysts said.

“We expect the Russian stock market to open in neutrally at around a 1,935–1,940 level of the MICEX index,” Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s analytical department, said.

The ultimate influence of key external factors that exert significant influence on the Russian market is close to neutral at the beginning of the day. U.S. stock index futures are edging up on a good report of Facebook, while Asian floors are mostly in the red zone, Shagov said.

The Brent oil price is rising 0.18% to U.S. $43.55 per barrel as of 9.04 a.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange. “The Brent is trying to rebound from its 3-month lows after a sharp Wednesday fall on the back of U.S. oil statistics, which indicated higher than expected reserves and production in the country,” Shagov said.

“The most likely scenario today is that the RTS index continues consolidation in the short term. Comments after the Fed meeting provided no reason for any tangible reaction of the market. The Fed’s estimates of risks in the economy have softened, but still it does not mean there is a chance that the key interest rate will be raised at its next meeting,” Olma’s senior analyst Anton Startsev said.

The market will track foreign macro statistics releases, including Germany’s preliminary inflation data for July, Eurozone’s confidence and sentiment indices for consumer and business spheres, and U.S. weekly jobless claims data, Andrei Dirgin, head of a research department at Alfa-Forex, said.

Local players will also focus attention on corporate news, including operating results of meat producer Cherkizovo Group and financial results of Internet giant Yandex and power producers Enel Russia and Unipro, Shagov said.

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