Russian stocks seen flat ahead of US Fed meeting

MOSCOW, Jul 31 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market will likely open with marginal dynamics on Wednesday as investors tend to abstain from trading before a meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed), analysts said.

“We see the external background before the start of the trade as neutral. Despite a decrease of the global indices at yesterday’s session, several factors allow us to expect an improvement of the situation in certain circumstances,” analysts of Solid said.

A statement by U.S. President Donald Trump that the U.S. and China are unlikely to reach a trade agreement soon because China buys little agricultural products disappointed market participants, the analysts said.

Pressure before a meeting of the U.S. Fed also prevents purchases on markets, they said.

Promsvyazbank analyst Mikhail Poddubsky said: “We expect a mostly neutral pattern of trade today in the basic scenario, ahead of the announcement of the results of a U.S. Fed meeting.”

Poddubsky said that the Asian markets are mostly in the red zone, the U.S. stock market futures are rising moderately after a financial report by Apple.

According to Poddubsky, the oil and gas sector may trade better than the rest of the market in Russia on the back of oil price recovery.

Olma’s senior analyst Anton Startsev said that oil futures fell to a U.S. $65 per barrel level as tensions in the Strait of Hormuz continue and U.S. crude reserves have fallen.

Georgy Vashchenko, head of investment company Freedom Finance’s department for trade operations on the Russian stock market, said that the MOEX Russia Index guidance for the start of the trading session stands at 2,720–2,740.

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