Russian stocks may open unchanged on mixed background

MOSCOW, Aug 6 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is unlikely to demonstrate any confident movement at the opening on Thursday and may consolidate later in the day thanks to a mixed foreign background, analysts said.

“We expect the MOEX Russia Index to open with a moderate change of 0.2–0.4%, within the 2,980–3,000 range… After the opening… the MOEX Russia Index is likely to consolidate thanks to a mixed background seen in the morning,” Vitaly Manzhos, senior risk manager at investment company Algo Capital, said.

He added that futures for the major U.S. benchmarks are rising by up to 0.25%, the Brent oil price is seen 0.4% higher in addition to a substantial growth registered on Wednesday, whereas main Asian indices are trading around 0.5% lower.

Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev does not rule out that the RTS index may continue to grow at the opening although there is still uncertainty linked to the risks of a new wave of the coronavirus pandemic and relevant restriction measures.

The market will also be driven by releases of financial reports for April–June under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by U.K.-based mining giant Evraz Group, which operates mainly in Russia, Amsterdam-based VEON, the sole owner of Russian mobile operator VimpelCom, TCS Group, which includes Tinkoff Bank, gold miner Polyus, and power utility TGC-1.

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