Russian stocks may open flat on neutral background

MOSCOW, May 11 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks are likely to open flat on Thursday as a neutral background provides it with no drivers for upward or downward movement, analysts said.

“Taking into account the current background, we expect the Russian stock indices to drift around yesterday’s closing levels at the beginning of the day,” Bogdan Zvarich, an analyst at investment company Finam, said.

Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s research department, said that the ultimate influence of the key external factors is close to neutral at the beginning of the day with the U.S. stock index futures changing insignificantly, the Asian floors trading mixed, and the European session’s premarket trading pointing to only slight changes of major European indices early in the day.

The Brent oil price is fluctuating above a psychologically important U.S. $50 per barrel mark thanks to the recent data showing contraction of the U.S. oil reserves, Shagov said.

“We expect the Russian stock market to open in a 2,025–2,030 range of the MICEX index and suppose that the stock indicator may try to continue the climb to its 200-day average line if the external background improves,” Shagov said.

During the day, the U.S. is to release jobless claims data and the producer price index, which may have an impact on the mood of investors, Zvarich said.

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