Russian stocks to fall as banking panic prevails in West

MOSCOW, Mar 16 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market should open with a contraction on Thursday because of panic triggered by problems of the Western banks, analysts said.

“The Swiss National Bank offered a 50 billion franc shoulder to troubled bank Credit Suisse, but it was not enough to calm the market down. The banking shares fell again in Asia, and the oil price is trying to rebound technically … Given the negative external background, it will be difficult for the Russian market to grow,” Otkritie Research’s leading analyst for global research Andrei Kochetkov said.

BitRiver financial analyst Vladislav Antonov said that the Russian stock market fell on Wednesday possibly in reaction to the NASDAQ bourse’s statement about its intent to delist the shares of Russia’s internet giant Yandex, online marketplace Ozon, payment system operator Qiwi, and online recruiting platform HeadHunter.

“The buyers were unable to maintain the market’s upward movement because of the external background. Today, the technical analysis points to the readiness of the MOEX Russia Index to fall further,” Antonov said.

But Alexei Antonov, head of Alor Broker’s investment consulting department, said that problems of the Western banks are of no concern for the Russian market. Still, the Western stock exchange panic pushed the oil prices down, which hurts the national market, he said.

“But today, the oil price rebounds by 1% in the morning to U.S. $74.5 per barrel. If the price climbs above $76 per barrel, it would be a false rebound and oil’s technical picture will worsen considerably, but this scenario is not that likely now. Taking into account the growth of oil prices and the futures for the U.S. stock market, we expect the Russian market to open higher,” Antonov said.

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