Russian stocks may rise on moderately positive background

MOSCOW, Aug 3 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks may increase at the opening on Monday amid a moderately positive sentiment on global floors, analysts said.

“The external background before the start of trading in Russia is weakly positive. Business activity in China continues to grow amid the successful containment of COVID-19, and even the U.S. claims have not yet confused the Chinese market… The Russian market may continue its growth attempts, and the ruble may stabilize, although this may be hindered by the conversion of Gazprom’s dividends by non-residents,” Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

Promsvyazbank chief analyst Bogdan Zvarich also pointed to moderately positive moods on global floors on early Monday. The Asian floors are growing, the U.S. stock index futures are consolidating near the levels of July 31’s close, the nearest futures for Brent oil are slightly falling maintaining their position at the level of U.S. $43.3 per barrel.

“Amid such a background, we expect the predominance of purchases in Russian stocks at the beginning of the session, which will allow the MOEX Russia Index to hold positions above 2,900 points. However, during the trading, the sentiment on markets may deteriorate slightly, amid the publication of data on PMIs in the manufacturing sector in European countries and the U.S. In this case, sales in our market may intensify, which will lead to the departure of the MOEX Russia Index into negative territory and testing the level of 2,900 points,” Zvarich said.

Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev said, “There are still no significant grounds for the RTS index to move from the consolidation, investor activity on stock markets as a whole remains limited due to macroeconomic uncertainty and risks associated with the possibility of new outbreaks of the COVID-19 pandemic and the return of restrictions in some countries. During the day, data on business activity in European countries and the U.S. may have some influence on the course of trading.”

End