Russian stocks may rise backed by oil price growth, rising floors

MOSCOW, Aug 27 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market may grow on Monday due to favorable sentiment on foreign stock exchanges and strengthening crude, analysts say.

“Official introduction of the first package of sanctions against Russia… will unlikely impact the local market’s mood significantly. Quite possibly, a positive external background will pull domestic stocks higher,” analyst at Freedom Finance Anastasia Sosnova said.

On Monday, fresh U.S. anti-Russian sanctions over Moscow’s alleged involvement in the March poisoning of the Skripal family in the U.K. came into force. A second package of sanctions that can affect lending to Russian corporate bodies could be introduced in November.

Sosnova expects the MOEX Russia Index to be seen within a 2,270-2,300 range during the day thanks to global optimism with the Brent oil price breaking though a U.S. $76 per barrel mark, and Asian and U.S. markets trading in the positive territory.

Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev said that the RTS index can also rise, but it is early to speak about confident growth as Western sanctions prevent the global capital from entering Russia’s market.

Investors are also likely to follow a slew of financial results releases for April–June and January–June from fertilizer producers Acron and Uralkali, and home appliances and electronic goods retailer M.Video.

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