Russian stocks may rise as oil prices outweigh bad background

MOSCOW, Apr 12 (PRIME) -- Stocks are likely to ease at opening on Wednesday as high oil prices are likely to outweigh the unfavorable foreign background, while investors are waiting for the outcome of U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Russia, analysts said.

“Today the background ahead of the opening of the Russian stock market is mixed again. Purchases of our shares will be supported by the situation on the energy market, where the Brent oil price has stabilized above a U.S. $56 per barrel mark on the American Petroleum Institute data,” Bogdan Zvarich, an analyst at investment company Finam, said.

On the other hand, U.S. stocks closed onTuesday in the red zone, and futures for the indices are falling on Wednesday morning. Trading in Asia also adds some negative momentum, Zvarich said.

“We expect the Russian stock market to open in a 1,980 range of the MICEX index and suppose that oil statistics as well as results of Tillerson’s visit to Russia will act as a market driver today,” Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s research department, said.

Anton Manayev, head of the trade relations department of investment company Olma, said that no reason for any strong changes in the RTS index has appeared so far.

“The meeting of the Russian president and the U.S. secretary of state is unlikely to lead to any kind of breakthrough in relations of the two countries, but it may create a certain type of news flow that will prompt serious changes at the market. A meeting of the Russian government to discuss dividends of state companies is also scheduled for today,” Manayev said.

Shagov also said that the board of directors of mobile operator MTS is to recommend the company’s dividends, which may have an impact on the market.

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