Russian stocks to fall on Thursday morning as coronavirus rages on

MOSCOW, Mar 26 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is likely to edge down at opening on Thursday as the global investors are still wary because of a rapid expansion of the coronavirus, analysts said.

“Today a slight downward correction of the RTS Index is possible at the beginning of trade. Passing of the economic support bill to the U.S. House of Representatives is a positive factor for the markets, but it was an expected event as the Senate coordinated the bill earlier. At the same time, rampant expansion of new cases of the COVID-19 leaves the markets in a state of uncertainty,” investment company Olma’s senior analyst Anton Startsev said.

The changes in taxation of dividends of Russian companies announced by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday may make Russian securities, especially those with a high dividend yield, relatively less attractive for foreign investors, Startsev said.

The futures for the U.S. stock indices fell, and the Asian floors show mixed dynamics, Startsev added.

“The futures for the major global indices show that the positive market mood has partially evaporated, and we will most likely see a moderately negative opening,” Alexei Korenev, analyst at investment company Finam, said.

Alor Broker’s analyst Alexei Antonov also said that the upward movement of the Russian and the U.S. stock markets has likely ended.

“The U.S. futures fell by more than 1% this morning, and they are slightly below yesterday’s closing. That’s why we expect the MOEX Russia Index to open with a moderate fall, and the most probable scenario is further contraction of the majority of Russian securities if investors receive no positive news,” Antonov said.

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