Russian stocks seen opening flat on lack of drivers

MOSCOW, Dec 26 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is expected to open with marginal changes on Tuesday on lack of drivers and the coming New Year holidays, only the ruble growth at opening may slightly drag the market down, analysts said.

“Today at the start of the trading we expect consolidation of the Russian market at the achieved levels. In the absence of drivers for directional movement, investors will prefer minimal portfolio revisions,” financial marketplace Banki.ru’s senior analyst Bogdan Zvarich said.

Investors will assess the possibility of changes during the New Year holidays and will try to reduce the risks of their impact on portfolios depending on the expected time of return to the market, he said.

“On the stock market as a whole everything is calm... But there is a desire to buy on the market, and it results in growth of quotations of some securities as soon as there is a reason for that,” Alexei Antonov, head of Alor Broker’s investment consulting department, said.

According to Zvarich, during the session, the ruble may stabilize at current levels. In the absence of significant reasons for movement and taking into account the peak of tax payments yesterday, which reduces the ruble support from exporters, the major world currencies are likely to hold their current positions, the analyst added.

Considering that the morning trading of the ruble on the Moscow Exchange opened with growth, the index may decline at the beginning of the main session, BitRiver’s financial analyst Vladislav Antonov said.

Given the reduction in investor activity before the holidays and the sale of currency by exporters, the dollar is likely to remain above 90 rubles with a possible increase in volatility by the end of the week, the analyst said.

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