Russian stocks seen opening flat on neutral background

MOSCOW, Nov 9 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is likely to open unchanged on Tuesday as the external background does not provide strong drivers for either sales or purchases in the morning, analysts said.

“In general, the global background is neutral, and it should ensure a calm opening of the Russian stock market,” Alexander Arutyunyan, senior economic of investment company Russ-Invest, said.

The U.S. stock market grew on Monday, but futures for the indices eased on Tuesday morning. The Asian markets edged down. The Brent oil price stopped rising at U.S. $83.34 per barrel. Even the yield on U.S. 10-year treasuries froze at 1.47%, Arutyunyan said.

“We expect the MOEX Russia Index to open with insignificant changes of 0.1–0.3% around 4,210–4,230. The levels of 4,200 and 4,180 will act as the closest support, while 4,240 and 4,250 will become the resistance. After a neutral start of the day, the MOEX Russia Index is very likely to switch into a sideways movement supported by a neutral external background,” Vitaly Manzhos, senior risk manager at investment company Algo Capital, said.

Later in the day, investors will track the release of the U.S. producer price index for October, and the speech of U.S. Federal Reserve System’s Chairman Jerome Powell, Manzhos said.

But Alor Broker’s senior analyst Alexei Antonov said that the Russian market may start the day lower reacting to the fall of futures for the U.S. indices and prices for the majority of commercial and precious metals.

“On Monday, the MOEX Russia Index gained more than 1%, significantly outperforming the international stock indices. But the increase happened in the first few hours of trade on low volumes. It allows us to suppose that the increase stemmed from speculators closing short positions, so there is no upward trend to talk about,” Antonov said.

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