Russian stocks may open flat on no drivers despite mood for growth

MOSCOW, Sep 15 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is poised for growth judging by the last hours of yesterday’s session, but is likely to be flat in first half day because of the lack of growth drivers, analysts said.

“The recovery trend that was seen in the last hours of trading yesterday may continue. As a result, the MOEX Russia Index will try to win back the 2,450 mark. Some improvement of the situation on the external markets and stabilization of the oil price situation will contribute to it,” Bogdan Zvarich, senior analyst at financial platform Banki.ru, said.

“The trading session is likely to be flat, at least in the first half of the day,” Alor Broker analyst Alexei Antonov said.

On Tuesday, the Russian market saw massive sell-offs, but it managed to win back losses in the second half of the day thanks to rising oil, which confirms that the market is in tune for growth, he said. “But today there are no reasons for the increase trend to be continued and the strong resistance of 2,500 points be approached so far,” he said.

The external environment is moderately negative prior to the start of trading in Russia. The leading Asian floors are losing within 1.1%, except Japan with a 0.2% rise. The futures on the U.S. main stock indices are consolidating around the levels of yesterday’s closing. The next Brent oil futures decreased 0.2% to below U.S. $94 per barrel.

The news flow will include the release of retail sales, the purchasing managers’ index, and jobless claims in the U.S.

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