Russian stocks to grow on rising oil prices, US stocks futures

MOSCOW, Mar 20 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market will edge up at the Friday’s opening following rising oil prices and U.S. stock market futures, analysts said.

“The local market will reflect a moderate improvement of external background in the first minutes of trade. Later the MICEX is likely to start consolidation at levels close to the opening,” Vitaly Manzhos, analyst at Nord Capital, said.

The Brent price increased 0.31% to U.S. $54.60 as of 9.19 a.m., Moscow time. The U.S. S&P 500 futures rose on morning Friday.

Some Russian blue chips are oversold and will see purchases, Promsvyazbank said.

President Vladimir Putin will meet his Belarusian and Kazakh counterparts Alexander Lukashenko and Nursultan Nazabayev to discuss economic cooperation and Ukrainian issues, and the market will focus on the statements made at the meeting, Finam analysts said.

Sberbank’s board of directors will meet to discuss the dividend policy, which will also be an important event for investors, the analysts said.

The Russian market is likely to rise next week because the U.S. dollar weakening will support commodities prices. Russian shares will continue to be attractive at low prices, while there are no great geopolitical troubles for Russia now, Promsvyazbank said.

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