Russian stocks to rebound slightly at opening, follow oil prices

MOSCOW, Mar 17 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks are likely to open higher on Tuesday in a correction after a few days of falls, while further trading will be under the pressure from oil prices, analysts said.

“We expect the market to open with a noticeable increase of about 0.5% within a 1,615-1,620 range of the MICEX index…In the first few minutes of trading the market will react to yesterday evening’s increase of the RTS index futures and futures for the blue chips,” Nord Capital’s analyst Vitaly Manzhos said.

In the second half of the day the Russian market will follow oil futures, Manzhos added.

The Brent oil price increased 0.167% to U.S. $54.030 per barrel as of 9.14 a.m. Moscow time, but there are no significant drivers for any upward movement, Alfa-Forex analyst Andrei Dirgin said.

“First, supply is still too high on the market…Second, there is a real threat that room in world’s storages will soon disappear, as only in the U.S. oil reserves grew to their 80-year record,” Dirgin said.

The general background prior to the market’s opening is close to neutral with U.S. futures changing insignificantly and Asian floors mostly rising.

“Today a slight increase is possible at the start of trading, but stable growth is not likely to happen, as the oil price still forces us to talk about increased risks,” Olma’s senior analyst Anton Startsev said.

In the next two days activity on the world markets will not be high as they will be waiting for the U.S. Federal Reserve’s comment after its two-day meeting, which will be held today and on Wednesday, Startsev added.

Investors will also closely watch for the release of the Eurozone’s employment and consumer prices data, Germany’s ZEW Survey Economic Sentiment and U.S. report on new housing construction.

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