Russian stocks to open flat as EU bourses shut for Easter eve

MOSCOW, Apr 3 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market will be little changed at the opening of the trading session on Friday because E.U. stock markets will be closed on the eve of the Catholic Easter, analysts said.

On Thursday, the MICEX rose 1.04% and the RTS 2.55%. “Today, we can face either profit taking or marginal dynamics. The lack of activity on the European stock markets due to preparations for the Easter counts in favor of the latter scenario,” Andrei Dirgin, analyst at Alfa-Forex, said.

The negotiations between Iran and the six powers have ended with the U.S. and E.U. promising to suspend anti-Iran sanctions, which was bad news for the oil market, Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev said.

The Brent price slid 3.77% to U.S. $54.95 as of 9.17 a.m., Moscow time.

The U.S. stock market futures rose on Friday morning, which will calm Russian investors, Denis Khripushin, analyst at 2trade.ru, said.

The U.S. will release non-farm payrolls in the evening Moscow time, which might influence Russian trading, Startsev said.

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