Russian stocks seen flat on oil price recovery, mixed signals

MOSCOW, Apr 20 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market may open little changed on Wednesday as the oil prices recover after Tuesday's slump, while the rest of the signals are mixed, analysts said.

"The external background before the start of Russian trade is weakly positive. Oil is trying to grow on the back of the U.S. reserve decrease. But the yield on the U.S. treasuries is still growing, which will undermine the risk appetite," Otkritie Research’s analyst Andrei Kochetkov.

Kochetkov said that the oil prices are recovering after a significant fall on Tuesday. The U.S. reserves fell by 4.5 million barrels on the week as of April 15, according the American Petroleum Institute, while the market expected a 2.2 million barrel reserve growth.

China reduced oil imports from Saudi Arabia in March by 13% and from Russia by 14%. However, the imports can recover in April–May, as the quarantine is eased, the analyst said.

Bogdan Zvarich, senior analyst at financial supermarket Banki.ru, said that the foreign markets mood is contradictory, as the key Asian indices added 0.9%, while the Chinese market lost 0.5%.

According to Kochetkov, the MOEX Russia Index can test the zone of 2,200–2,250 at the start of trade. 

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