Russian stocks may rise on oil price rebound, neutral background

MOSCOW, Aug 16 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is likely to edge up at opening to try to break out of a consolidation band on Wednesday, analysts said.

“We expect the MICEX to open (higher) at around 1,955 and believe the benchmark will look for a way out of the current consolidation, whose typical feature now is low trade volumes. The market may be driven by an up-coming crude inventories statistics by the U.S. Department of Energy and the latest FOMC minutes,” Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s research department, said.

Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev sees no reason for any strong movement on the market because although a recent statistics release of the American Petroleum Institute (API) demonstrated a sharp 9.2 million barrel slide of the U.S. oil stocks, the trend has not stabilized yet as investors are waiting for confirmation from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Brent oil price has bounced back from a three-week low of $50 per barrel, but is still near it at around $51.

The global background is close to neutral, Shagov said. The major U.S. indices futures look flat and the Asian markets are mixed. The European stock exchanges will also likely open flat.

Russian traders may also follow IFRS results releases for January-June and April-June by retailer Dixy Group and Northwest Interregional Distribution Grid Company.

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