Russian stocks seen flat, as traders wait decisions in Greece, Iran

MOSCOW, Jul 3 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market may open flat on Friday because investors are waiting for a nuclear deal with Iran to be signed and for results of a referendum on whether Greeks want austerity measures in order to stay in the euro zone, analysts said.

“I expect that the opening of the Russian stock market will see a neutral dynamics, and I assume that the MICEX will continue to move around the current level on expectations of further events in Greece and Iran,” Oleg Shagov, head of analytical department at investment company Solid, said.

The level of 1,680 will be a resistance zone for the MICEX, and the support zone is 1,625, he said.

Iran is preparing to sign an agreement on nuclear program settlement, which, most probably, will remove all sanctions. “The oil of the country will come back to the global market already suffering from excessive supplies,” Shagov said.

On Friday morning, Brent fell 0.24% to U.S. $61.92 per barrel at 8.49 a.m. Moscow time.

Greece is preparing for a referendum on austerity measures on Sunday. It will largely depend on a decision to be made by the Greek people whether the country will stay in the euro zone. A preliminary poll shows that 43% of people reject the state budget spending cuts, Bloomberg reported.

On Friday, the U.S. stock exchanges will be closed for a holiday, which will also discourage Russian investors from bold steps, Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev said.

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