Russian stocks may open flat on mixed background, higher oil

MOSCOW, May 14 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks may open flat on Wednesday amid mixed foreign background and rising oil prices, analysts said.

External background prior to the Russian market’s opening is close to neutral, with moderately rising futures on the U.S. indices, different dynamics on the Asian markets, and Brent oil prices wavering around U.S. $109.4 per barrel, Promsvyazbank senior analyst Oleg Shagov said.

The U.S. stocks closed mixed in the previous session on somewhat disappointing retail sales data, which may affect the domestic trading as well, Veles Capital said in a research note.

The Russian market may switch to consolidation after a flat start at around 1,385 points on the MICEX in expectation of new significant signals from abroad, Nord Capital analyst Vitaly Manzhos said.

However, Mikhail Kuzmin from Investcafe expects the domestic market to open with purchases backed by higher oil prices as investors expects the U.S. to release a decline in their oil and oil products stock, and expectations for a significant flow of statistics data during the day.

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