Russian stocks may open flat on mixed backdrop, global low activity

MOSCOW, Nov 24 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is likely to open flat on Thursday as the external background is mixed and overall lower activity of investors is expected because the U.S. markets are closed over Thanksgiving Day, analysts said.

“The mixed morning state of the external background creates conditions for a close to neutral opening of the MOEX Russia Index. Later it is very likely to switch to the state of idealess consolidation,” Vitaly Manzhos, senior risk manager at investment company Algo Capital, said.

Otkritie Research leading analyst for global research Andrei Kochetkov said that the external background is positive in the morning before the start of Russia’s trading session. China was reported to launch new stimulation measures for the economy, while the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) showed some signals that it may soften its stance on the toughening of the monetary policy, he said.

In addition to that, the E.U. didn’t reach an agreement on a Russian oil price cap, while “the projected limits do not seem catastrophic,” he added.

The U.S. markets will be closed because of Thanksgiving Day and it may lower activity of investors worldwide, Kochetkov also said, adding that the Russian indices are expected to consolidate.

BitRiver financial analyst Vladislav Antonov said that “there is reason to expect further growth” of the Russian market on Thursday and Friday “as buyers have been able to hold sellers back.” The MOEX Russia Index, which closed at 2,211.89 on Wednesday, may rise to 2,235 today, he added.

End