Russian stocks to open flat on neutral environment, low activity

MOSCOW, May 12 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks are likely to open flat on Friday due to a neutral external background and a pre-weekend lull, analysts said.

“We expect the Russian stock market to open in a 2,000–2,005 range of the MICEX index and suppose that it will consolidate around the current levels later in the day due to a low investors as the weekend is coming,” Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s research department, said.

The ultimate influence of the key external factors is close to neutral at the beginning of the day. The Brent oil price has stabilized above a U.S. $50 per barrel mark thanks to OPEC’s forecast of a higher demand, while futures for the U.S. stock indices are easing and major Asian bourses are trading mixed, Shagov said.

Bodgan Zvarich, an analyst at investment company Finam, said that the oil price failure to stay above $51 on Thursday will exert pressure on Russian stocks. However, the U.S. bourses clawed back the bulk of Thursday’s losses with the Dow Jones losing only 0.1% and the S&P 500 falling 0.2% balancing the negative impact of the oil price.

“As we see it, the negative effect of correction in oil prices will be compensated by restoration of the U.S. floors, which will result in a neutral opening of the Russian market and consolidation of the main Russian indices around yesterday evening’s level in the first hours of trade,” Zvarich said.

Sergei Kozlovsky, head of the research department of forex broker Grand Capital, said that investors will track releases of data on consumer inflation in Germany, Eurozone’s industrial output statistics, and the U.S. economic statistics data, including figures of consumer inflation, statistics materials of the University of Michigan, and Baker Hughes data on operating drilling rigs in the country.

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