Russian stocks to open flat on neutral environment, stable oil

MOSCOW, Feb 16 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks are likely to open close to flat on Thursday as the external background provides the market with no strong drivers, while oil prices are relatively stable, analysts said.

“The ultimate influence of the key factors that provide significant impact on behavior of the Russian stock market is close to neutral at the beginning of the day. Prices of April futures for Brent oil are fluctuating around $55.7 per barrel after a recent release of statistics that showed a significant growth of oil reserves in the U.S. partially explained by a seasonal effect of maintenance works at oil refineries,” Oleg Shagov, head of investment company Solid’s analytical department, said.

Nikolai Podlevskikh, head of investment company Zerich Capital Management, said that the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that commercial oil reserves grew significantly, but it added nothing new to the data of the American Petroleum Institute released earlier, this is why oil prices did not change.

“We expect the Russian stock market to open around the previous MICEX closure point of 2,137 and suppose that the indicator will remain flat around the current figures under the influence of permanent changes in the external background,” Shagov said.

Anton Manayev, head of the trade operations department at investment company Olma, saw no strong signals from the external background as U.S. stock index futures rose 0.5–0.6% on Wednesday, but on Thursday they fell and major Asian floors show no common dynamics.

“Further consolidation of the RTS index remains our current scenario. The MICEX index stopped below an important support level of 2,150. A positive impact may come from oil prices if the ruble-denominated price of the Brent oil climbs above 3,300 rubles per barrel. But one should not expect that given the current tends of the currency market,” Manayev said.

Bogdan Zvarich, an analyst at investment company Finam, said that releases of U.S. macro statistics, including the housing market and jobless claims figures, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s business activity index, may have an impact on Russian stocks during the day.

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