Russian stocks may open flat on neutral background, lower oil

MOSCOW, Dec 6 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks may open flat or slightly decrease on Tuesday amid a neutral foreign background and falling oil prices, analysts said.

“We expect the Russian stock market to open at the level of the previous close of the MICEX index (2,158.33) without ruling out that this stock indicator can start correction to growth shown over the last few days if the foreign background deteriorates,” Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s research department, said.

The ultimate influence of key external factors that have an impact on the Russian financial market is close to neutral at the beginning of the day, he said. Brent oil futures fell ahead of publication of the U.S. oil reserves data and OPEC’s announcement of a meeting with non-OPEC members.

The U.S. stock index futures are not changing much, while the Asian stock indicators are demonstrating mostly positive dynamics.

Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, expects the MICEX index to decrease by around 0.3–0.4% to around 2,150 points at the opening. The nearest support levels will be 2,140 and 2,130 and the resistance zones will be 2,160 and 2,170.

Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev said that “the technical analysis data indicates a possibility of further increase on the RTS index. At the same time, the foreign background may provide for some “chilling” of buyers’ activity at the start of trading.”

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