Russian stocks seen opening mixed on weak ruble, oil price gains

MOSCOW, Jul 7 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market will likely open mixed on Friday on the back of weak attempts of the ruble to erase earlier losses and a small oil price growth, analysts said.

"The MOEX Russia Index will try to reset its highs until the ruble starts the correction phase," BitRiver financial analyst Vladislav Antonov said. "After resetting annual lows, it (the ruble) tried to correct upwards (on Thursday). It was emerging to the green zone at the main session, but lost all gains before the evening session closure."

According to Antonov, the ruble lost its positive momentum after Chairwoman of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina said that the authority would intervene on the foreign currency market only when it sees risks to the financial stability. No such risks are seen now, she added triggering a further ruble weakening, Antonov said.

Bogdan Zvarich, senior analyst at financial platform Banki.ru, said that the ruble started firming on Friday morning, rising by 0.9% and 0.4% against the U.S. dollar and the ruble respectively, but the Brent oil prices gained as well, 0.5% to about U.S. $77.

"As a result, the Russian market will try to consolidate above 2,820, which was the July high," Zvarich said.

Cifra Broker said it expected a volatile session ahead of the weekend. Tatneft will be in focus on the last day of trading with dividends, the analysts said.

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