Russian stocks to rise on favorable environment, oil price rise

MOSCOW, Apr 23 (PRIME) – The Russian stocks are likely to firm at opening on Thursday on a positive investor mood and a significant increase in oil prices, analysts said.

“Today, the RTS index is likely to continue its upward movement at the beginning of trade following oil prices, as the futures for the Brent are close to U.S. $23 per barrel, an increase of 13% compared with yesterday’s closure,” investment company Olma’s senior analyst Anton Startsev said.

Nevertheless, volatility on the global markets is still high barring any expectations of consistent growth, Startsev said.

“The background favors further growth today at least at the beginning of trade. The futures for the U.S. stock indices managed to climb from the red zone, and they are trading close to Wednesday’s closing on the global markets,” Alor Broker’s analyst Alexei Antonov said.

The oil prices and industrial metals grow encouraging hope for a slight growth at opening, but predicting market movements for more than one or two hours are difficult, Antonov said.

Gold producers Polyus and Polymetal International should grow in line with the gold prices, and metals giant Norilsk Nickel, which was weaker than the market on Wednesday, should also gain some ground due to support of increasing prices for metals it produces, Antonov added.

“Investors are in for quite an intense Thursday, but it is unlikely that it will bring any positive signals regarding business activity in Europe and the U.S. in April,” investment company Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

“Nevertheless, it may signal a slowdown in the growth of jobless claims in the U.S. to about 4 million from more than 5 million…In Russia, the trading mood will be shaped by corporate news.”

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