Russian stocks to grow as Moscow’s relations with West get warmer

MOSCOW, Nov 18 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks may increase a little on Wednesday despite low oil prices and ambiguous foreign market moods because the willingness of Moscow to participate in international anti-terrorist efforts is believed to melt the ice in the relations with the West, analysts said.

“In my opinion, there is a high probability of the main Russian stock market indicator growth in the morning despite an ambiguous external background,” Timur Nigmatullin, a Finam analyst, said.

Statements of President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Turkey have cleared the atmosphere, Nigmatullin said.

Investors believe that Russia and France’s joint efforts in anti-terrorist operations in Syria can help to scale down the sanctions against Russia, Oleg Shagov, head of the research department at investment company Solid, said

“It is thought in international rating agency Standard & Poor’s that the cooperation between Russia and the West in the struggle against the international terrorism can favor removal of sanctions and can also positively affect Russia’s credit rating,” Shagov said.

The MICEX is not ruled out to grow beyond the 1,800 level soon, Promsvyazbank analyst Ilya Frolov said.

Still, the background for the Russian session opening on Wednesday is ambiguous because Brent futures rose 0.80% to U.S. $43.92 per barrel at 9:13 a.m. Moscow time, but this is just a recovery after the Tuesday evening’s sliding. U.S. stock market futures are falling and Asian indices are demonstrating mixed dynamics, Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Media reports about a threat of explosion in Hannover, Germany, have made investors flee risky assets and can negatively affect the Russian stock dynamics on Wednesday, Pavel Salas, CEO of eToro in Russia and CIS, said.

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