Russian stocks to continue falling as Asian markets, S&P dive

MOSCOW, Feb 20 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market will decrease on Thursday following falling U.S. S&P 500 futures and Asian markets, analysts said.

“We may expect the continuation of the downward trend of the Russian stock market indices because weak macroeconomic statistics in Asia as well as in Europe and the U.S. will continue to push emerging markets down,” Grigory Birg from Investcafe said.

The Nikkei 225 fell 0.40% and the KOSPI lost 0.54% after Japan reported that its trading surplus shrank below market expectations, while the Chinese industry’s purchasing managers’ index fell to 48.3 in February.

The S&P 500 futures were depressed by the lower than expected housing starts and by the Federal Reserve System’s (Fed) decisiveness to continue with the quantitative easing, Birg said.

Brent prices fell 0.54% to U.S. $109.86 per barrel prompting bears to reign on the market, Promsvyazbank senior analyst Oleg Shagov said.

Germany and the euro zone will report business activity figures for February. The U.K. will release its January retail sales, the U.S. its weekly jobless claims, leading indicators while Philadelphia Fed Survey will publish a February report.

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