Russian stocks seen opening flat ahead of New Year holidays

MOSCOW, Dec 22 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market will likely open little changed on Friday, as investors are unlikely to form a strong trend ahead of the New Year holidays, analysts said.

"In general, we expect that the MOEX Russia Index will remain in a highly-volatile sideways trend in the next few days, but at the end of the next week, when the trade amount traditionally declines, strong dynamics of both the market as a whole, and some securities in particular is possible," Alexei Antonov, head of Alor Broker’s investment consulting department, said.

BitRiver’s financial analyst Vladislav Antonov said that the ruble weakened over higher demand for foreign currency ahead of the New Year holidays and on the back of a rise of the government spending before the holidays.

Expiration of quarterly futures and options for foreign currency and a surge in speculative transactions of large market participants trying to weaken the ruble after its strengthening in October and November added to volatility, Antonov said.

The Brent oil price rose by 0.3% to U.S. $79.35 per barrel on Thursday on the back of remaining geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Angola's secession from OPEC+ added pessimism on the market, the analyst said.

On Friday morning, Brent continued rising to $80.16.

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