Russian stocks to rise as oil price growth supports market

MOSCOW, Oct 20 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is likely to edge up at the start of Thursday’s trade supported by the growth of oil prices, analysts said.

“Yesterday’s trade again showed clearly that geopolitics has a serious impact on the stock market. But today everything is calm in this regard. The external background provides positive momentum as the oil price climbed above U.S. $93 per barrel. This is why our stock market has a good chance to continue growth,” Head of the investment consulting department at Alor Broker Alexei Antonov said.

Higher oil prices mean purchases in Lukoil, Rosneft, and Gazprom even in spite of the strong ruble. Sberbank may grow as unsatisfied demand usually flows into the securities of companies focused on the internal market at the times when the ruble rises and exerts pressure on the shares of exporters, Antonov said.

“We expect trading in Russia to start with a 0.2–1.3% increase of the MOEX Russia Index in the range of 2,000–2,020. The levels of 1,990 and 1,970 will act as the closest support, while 2,030 and 2,060 will become the resistance. In the first few minutes of trade the MOEX Russia Index may grow noticeably as the rising prices of the oil futures will support it,” Vitaly Manzhos, senior risk manager at investment company Algo Capital, said.

The background for the Russian market is mixed as the futures for the U.S. stock indices show mixed dynamics -- the Chinese index Shanghai Composite gained 0.1%, while the Japanese index Nikkei225 lost 0.9%, and the gold futures decreased by 0.1%. The Brent oil price gained 0.9%, which is good for the market, Manzhos said.

But Georgy Vashchenko, deputy director of the research department of Freedom Finance Global, said that the Russian market may open with mixed dynamics as no important corporate news is to be released.

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