Russian stocks may open flat on stable oil, G20 expectations

MOSCOW, Jul 5 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks are likely to open flat on Wednesday as stable oil prices provide the market with no drivers and investors will be waiting for the news from the upcoming G20 summit, analysts said.

Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s research department, said that the background prior to the opening of the trading session is close to neutral as the U.S. stock futures are changing insignificantly, the Asian floors are showing slightly positive dynamics, and November Brent futures remain flat waiting for the release of the U.S. industry statistics.

“We expect the Russian stock market to open close to the previous closing level of the MICEX index of 1,917.4 and suppose that the stock indicator will be able to continue its recent increase supported by the growth of the ruble price of a barrel of oil,” Shagov said.

Anton Startsev, a senior analyst at investment company Olma, said that technical analysis confirms weakening of the downward trend of the RTS index after the indicator settled above 1,000, although it is too early to speak about a start of an upward trend.

“In the short-term, traders may remain conservative in their market actions as they are waiting for news coming from G20 meetings,” Startsev said.

But Ilya Frolov, a senior capital market analyst at Promsvyazbank, said that global investors have reined in their risk appetite lately due to North Korea’s missile launches and worries that the increase of profits of European companies may slow down.

“This may lead to a delayed contraction of Russian indices at the start of the trading session today. At the same time, we see no reason for a serious contraction, and sentiment about Russian assets is supported by internal ideas connected with the G20 meeting and a possibility of state companies paying interim dividends,” Frolov said.

Shagov said that investors will track the results of the meeting of the council for strategic development and priority projects that President Vladimir Putin will chair. The major topic of the meeting is digital economy, he said.

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