Russian stocks may open flat on wait for Putin-Tsipras meeting

MOSCOW, Apr 8 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market may open flat on Wednesday as investors are waiting for statements to be made at a forthcoming meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, analysts said.

“There have been no reasons for strong market dynamics so far. There may be a short-term lull as traders expect results of a meeting of the Russian president with the Greek prime minister (they may indirectly influence investors’ appraisal of the Greek debt quality), release of the March meeting protocol of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) and of a quarterly report of aluminum corporation Alcoa…” Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev said.

Market players believe that the Fed stance on its future policies will be mild and that the authority will not raise interest rate in the near future, Andrei Dirgin, analyst at Alfa-Forex, said.

Oil prices soared on Tuesday in the evening on the back of a Yemeni military conflict, which will shape some growth of Russian stocks, Dirgin said.

On Wednesday in the morning, Brent erased its gains, falling 1.44% to U.S. $58.25 per barrel at 9.08 a.m. Moscow time.

Both the MICEX and the RTS have reached a resistance zone of 1,700–1,720 points and a notch of 1,000 points, respectively, and they will barely overlap these thresholds in April, IT Invest analyst Vasily Oleinik said.

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