Russian stocks to open flat on global uncertainty

MOSCOW, Nov 19 (PRIME) – The Russian stocks are likely to open unchanged on Tuesday on a neutral external background while the outcome of the U.S.–China trade dispute is still uncertain, analysts said.

“The external background provides no sufficient reasons for the RTS Index to stop consolidating. The volatility indicators remain low pointing to investor readiness to take risks, but uncertainty around the prospects of the U.S.–China trade deal still blocks the inflow of capital into the shares,” investment company Olma’s senior analyst Anton Startsev said.

Yelena Kozhukhova, analyst at Veles Capital, said that the mood at the foreign stock bourses was negative at the beginning of the week, but the Russian market tried to maintain the upward trend on Monday supported by corporate stories. The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS Index closed above the important support levels of 2,900 and 1,435, respectively, on Monday.

“The situation for players that are trying to be bullish is still dangerous, but we saw no signals for the upward trend to change…The MOEX Russia Index guidance (for Tuesday) is 2,900–2,960,” Kozhukhova said.

Georgy Vashchenko, head of the department for operations at the Russian stock market at investment company Freedom Finance, said that the MOEX Russia Index will be mostly guided by the external background and technical factors, so the market will likely remain neutral in the day. “The forecast for the MOEX Russia Index is 2,920–2,940,” he said.

“The background for the market has remained neutral so far. Futures for the U.S. stock indices don’t show any signs of life after the U.S. market closed close to zero. Neither the global nor the Russian market has any interesting ideas to prompt serious movements. Investors are waiting for a solution that would finally help sign the first stage of the U.S.–China trade deal and for the sides to announce further plans to settle the problem,” Alor Broker’s analyst Alexei Antonov said.

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