Russian stocks to rise on oil price rebound, poor US statistics

MOSCOW, Feb 4 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market will increase on Wednesday morning because of a surge of oil prices and due to the weak U.S. statistics, which prompt traders to expect the Federal Reserve System (Fed) to decide against an interest rate rise in 2015, analysts said.

“We expect a noticeable increase, by up to 1%, in a 1,665 and 1,670 range on the MICEX at market opening. The levels of 1,635 and 1,620 will be significant support levels, while 1,675 and 1,690 will be a strong resistance zone,” Vitaly Manzhos, analyst at Nord-Capital, said.

He said foreign background before the opening of the trade was neutral or mixed, although a rise in the oil price rise on the previous day and a noticeable increase of futures for Russian shares will create conditions for a positive start of the session.

March futures for Brent jumped 2.35% to U.S. $56.07 per barrel as of 7.11 p.m., Moscow time on Tuesday, although it shed some gains on Wednesday to $57.64.

Industrial orders in the U.S. in December fell 3.4%, and 1.7% in November and Andrei Dirgin, head of Alfa-Forex’ analytic department said there is an increasing evidence that the U.S. economy is not recovering as fast as the dollar growth rate might have signaled.

The Fed may decide against raising the interest rate this year, this is why global investors are so optimistic, Dirgin said.

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