Russian stocks seen flat on oil price, ruble weakening

MOSCOW, Sep 29 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market will likely open little changed on Friday on the back of a decrease of oil prices and the ruble, analysts said.

"We should forecast a recovery (of the MOEX Russia Index) to 3,130 because of weakening of the ruble. However, a deep oil price decrease will force speculative players to sell the shares of oil companies. If the pressure is strong, the index will unlikely show good growth. I tend to say that there be a flat range of 3,000–3,285 until the end of November," BitRiver’s financial analyst Vladislav Antonov said.

Oil prices fell by 2% to U.S. $93.18 per barrel on Friday in the morning. An upward trend was suspended, as political factors came to the foreground, the analyst said.

The Russian market expects weakening of the ruble, probably, because the tax period has ended, he said.

According to Alor Broker analyst Alexei Antonov, sales can become active in the evening, as the bears will be closing short positions ahead of the weekend.

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