Russian stocks to rise on favorable environ, fundamental factors

MOSCOW, Feb 2 (PRIME) – The Russian stocks are likely to grow on Tuesday morning as the favorable external background and the good fundamental factors support purchases, analysts said.

“The external background prompts a cautious return of purchases, as futures for the U.S. stock indices rose by half a percentage point and oil prices jumped to U.S. $57 per barrel breaking out of a $55–56 range, where it has been staying for several days,” Alor Broker senior analyst Alexei Antonov said.

“In general, the technical picture of the MOEX Russia Index shows that we only see now an upward rebound. The ruble market indicator failed to climb above 3,300, but will likely manage to do so today at the beginning of trade, though the possibility of it staying above the mark until the end of the day is far from certain.”

Alexei Kalachyov, analyst at investment company Finam, also said that the favorable external background and good fundamental factors should help the Russian market to start the day higher.

The Asian markets rise. As of 8.30 a.m. Moscow time, China’s CSI 300 gained 1.23%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng grew by 1.26%, South Korea’s KOSPI rose by 1.36%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.86%, Kalachyov said.

“The fundamental factors also favor growth. January business activity in Russia’s manufacturing sector published yesterday showed an increase of the PMI to 50.9 from 49.7 in December. A preliminary estimate of GDP for the previous year, which the statistics service published after the closure of trade yesterday, showed the sharpest decline of the economy over the past 11 years, but still outperformed expectations,” he said.

The service said that Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 3.1% in 2020, while the Economic Development Ministry expected a 3.8% decrease.

Kalachyov also said that a small amount of macroeconomic statistics will capture attention of investors today – the U.K. is to publish the housing index, France is to release its consumer price index, while the E.U. is to release the annual GDP indicator.

Local investors should focus on the release of a financial report of Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) for 2020 calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards, he added.

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