Russian stocks to decrease on Lukoil ex-div date, oil price fall

MOSCOW, Jul 11 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market will likely open lower on Monday, as the MICEX will be hurt by an ex-dividend date of oil producer Lukoil and the RTS will suffer from weakening oil prices, analysts said.

“We expect the MICEX index to edge down to 1,890 at the opening of the Russian stock market session due to an ex-dividend gap in the shares of Lukoil,” Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s research department, said.

“We assume that further daily dynamics of the MICEX will in many respects depend on the behavior of the oil prices and on the Western stock market indicators, as well as on changes of the ruble rate and upcoming events.”

Lukoil’s ex-dividend date will push the MICEX down by 0.5%, he said.

The RTS could increase but unclear dynamics in oil prices will bar the Russian index from starting a firm bullish trend. The RTS will consolidate in the range between 900 and 950, Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev said.

Brent went down 0.56% to U.S. $46.50 per barrel as of 9:25 a.m., Moscow time.

An official announcement of the privatization price of diamond miner ALROSA will be noteworthy, as well as publication of the operating results of retailer Magnit, Shagov said.

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