Russian stocks seen rising in early trade as oil price edges up

MOSCOW, Nov 25 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market may edge up at the start of Thursday’s trading as the oil price firms, and the market will focus on the oil price because the U.S. stock markets will be closed for the Thanksgiving Day celebrations, analysts said.

“We expect the MOEX Russia Index to open with a moderate increase of 0.1–0.5% in the range of 3,955–3,970. The levels of 3,950 and 3,930 will act as the closest support, while 3,980 and 4,000 will become the resistance,” Vitaly Manzhos, senior risk manager at investment company Algo Capital, said.

“In the first few minutes of trade, the MOEX Russia Index will price in a moderate improvement of the mood of the oil market.”

The Brent oil price gained 0.2% on Thursday morning, while the gold prices rose by 0.5%. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.1%, and the Nikkei225 gained 0.8%. Since the U.S. stock market is closed, the Russian market will focus on the oil prices, Manzhos said.

Yevgeny Loktyukhov, head of the economic and sectorial research of Promsvyazbank, said that the MOEX Russia Index is likely to return to 4,000.

“A moderately positive mood is created at global markets on Thursday morning as the key Asian indices edge up together with the commodity markets. Due to the lack of significant news and a holiday in the U.S., we expect moderately positive dynamics of the stock markets to continue,” Loktyukhov said.

Georgy Vashchenko, head of Freedom Finance’s department for trade operations on the Russian stock market, expected the market to show mixed dynamics at the beginning of the day. “In spite of robust macro statistics reports, the external background is negative and will not provide support to the Russian market,” he said.

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