Russian stocks seen flat amid uncertain foreign background

MOSCOW, Feb 20 (PRIME) -- The Russian stocks market may open flat and consolidate during the day on Thursday amid a mixed foreign background, analysts said.

“Considering the results of the previous evening session, we can assume, that the MOEX Russia Index is to open flat from Wednesday’s closing,” Director of BCS Broker’s stock market experts department Vasily Karpunin said.

The external background is mixed. The U.S. benchmarks are flat, the Asian markets are seen in the negative territory, and the Brent oil price is 0.3% higher, he added.

Georgy Vashchenko, head of investment company Freedom Finance’s department for trade operations on the Russian stock market, said that the MOEX Russia Index is likely to be trading within the 3,090–3,110 range during the day.

He added that investors are focused on the upcoming decisions of the U.S. Federal Reserve and Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) figures for January.

Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev said that from the technical analysis point of view, the RTS index will likely consolidate between the 1,500 and 1,560 marks.

Local investors will also track news from a conference call of independent gas producer Novatek on the October–December 2019 financial results and a meeting of the board of directors of fertilizer producer PhosAgro, which is to consider dividends for 2019.

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