Russian stocks seen flat as Greece woes vanish, Chinese mkt falls

MOSCOW, Jul 15 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market may see marginal dynamics at Wednesday opening because there is no longer a strong pressure from the Iranian and Greek negotiations, but the Chinese market again sees a plunge, analysts said.

“I expect a neutral opening of Russian indices, maybe, with a slight downward gap. Closings of dividend registers are almost all left behind by now, there is still no inflow of non-Russians’ money,” Vasily Oleinik, an analyst at ITInvest, said.

The uncertainly on the Greek debt issue and the Iranian nuclear pact is almost gone, and the negative trend at the Russian market will give way to an “idealess summer consolidation,” Vitaly Manzhos, senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Brent rose 0.24% to U.S. $58.65 per barrel at 9.15 a.m. Moscow time, U.S. stocks futures are gaining, which will support Russian investors, Manzhos said.

But the panic on the Chinese stock market continued on Wednesday, which can undermine the growth in Russia, Finam analyst Anton Soroko said.

Gazprom and Surgutneftegas will close their shareholder registers for dividends, and their stocks are expected to fall, dragging the whole oil and gas sector down, Shagov said.

The resistance zone for the MICEX is 1,650–1,660, and the support level is at 1,610–1,620, Oleg Shagov, head of analytical department at investment company Solid, said.

Speech of Chairwoman of the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) Janet Yellen at the Congress will be the milestone for investors on Wednesday, Oleinik said. The Fed likely will raise the interest rate in September, and any suggestions that this will happen will pour cold water on bulls across the globe, he said.

Russian investors will also track the Chinese and U.S. statistics, and the Greek parliament’s debates on reforms on Wednesday, Georgy Vashchenko, director of the Russian stock market operations department of Freedom Finance, said.

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