Russian stocks to edge down at opening, may try to recover later

MOSCOW, Mar 19 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market will likely open gap down on Thursday following Asian and U.S. bourses, but may try to rebound later in the day thanks to oil prices recovering by more than 5%, analysts said.

“We expect high volatility during the upcoming trade session as the Russian stock market will follow the external market’s sentiment. The guideline ranges are 77.00–80.00 rubles per U.S. dollar and 2,100–2,300 for the Moscow Exchange,” Georgy Vashchenko, head of investment company Freedom Finance’s department for trade operations on the Russian stock market, said.

Russian blue chips are unlikely to reverse yet, but may temporarily bounce back by 10–15%, he added.

Senior analyst at Promsvyazbank Bogdan Zvarich said that the Russian stock market will open gap down at below 2,100 with sales of a wide variety of shares amid a further fall of Asian and U.S. markets, but may try to recover later in the day thanks to crude price correction.

The Brent crude price growth has accelerated to 5.5% to over $26 per barrel.

Investors in Russia are also likely to follow a slew of financial results releases for 2019 by grocery retailer X5 Retail Group, metals and mining group Mechel, power company Unipro, as well as decisions on 2019 dividends by the boards of directors of independent gas producer Novatek and coal producer Raspadskaya.

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