Russian stocks to rebound after Wednesday fall, Fed’s decision

MOSCOW, Mar 18 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is likely to start the Thursday trading firmer in a rebound after the Wednesday fall supported by comments of the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed), analysts said.

“The futures for the U.S. indices rise slightly this morning, the oil price is at U.S. $67.5 per barrel holding above the support level of $67, and precious metals also rise,” Alor Broker senior analyst Alexei Antonov said.

“We expect the Russian market to open higher, but one should not expect strong dynamics, as the sanction fears and a new twist of worsening of the U.S.–Russia relations will exert pressure on the market for some time.”

On Wednesday evening, sales became aggressive after U.S. President Joe Biden promised to punish Russia for meddling in the 2020 elections, which according to a U.S. intelligence report, discredited Biden, Antonov said.

But late in the evening, the Fed left its interest rates unchanged, and all its 18 members forecasted no rate increase in 2021, while only four of them expected an increase in 2022. The authority also upgraded the U.S. GDP growth forecast to 6.5% in 2021 from 4.2% triggering  growth of the U.S. indices, including the S&P 500, which rose to a new record , he said.

“Today, on March 18, the external background is moderately favorable for the national market,” Alexander Kovalyov, analyst at investment company Finam, said.

The S&P 500 futures gained 0.05% as of 8.40 a.m. Moscow time, the majority of Asian indices are in the green zone, and even the RTS Index futures show a 0.86% growth, Kovalyov said.

Russia will not release any significant macroeconomic statistics during the day. Investors will focus on the financial reports of Credit Bank of Moscow and online recruiting platform HeadHunter for October–December 2020 and for 2020.

Besides Credit Bank of Moscow is to publish its updated strategy for 2021–2023, retailer Lenta is to hold an investor day, and the supervisory board of Sberbank is to meet and discuss several issues including recommendation for final dividends for 2020, Kovalev said.

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