Russian stocks to fall on low oil price, negative background

MOSCOW, Jan 26 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks may decrease at the opening on Tuesday as oil prices resumed their decline and the overall negative foreign background, analysts said.

“We expect the Russian stock market to open lower, at 1,710–1,715 of the MICEX index, assuming that it may be again under the pressure of sales amid an unfavorable foreign background, while the oil price change and the ruble dynamics will remain its main drivers,” Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s research department, said.

Brent oil futures have again fallen below the psychologically important level of U.S. $30 per barrel as some OPEC countries said they intended to increase oil supplies and a projected further increase of the U.S. oil reserves, the analyst said.

“The RTS index may decline at the start of trading today under the pressure of foreign background,” investment company Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev said.

UFS IC analyst Alexei Kozlov expects the MICEX to remain in a 1,665–1,720 range. “The technical external background is negative today in the morning: the U.S. stock indices fell significantly on Monday, the S&P 500 futures contract is decreasing today, the Asian indices are in the red zone, the Brent oil price has fallen strongly,” he said.

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