Russian stocks to rise supported by favorable environ, oil price

MOSCOW, Feb 16 (PRIME) – The Russian stocks are likely to open significantly higher on Tuesday as the national market will continue receiving support from the rising Western markets and high oil prices, analysts said.

“The U.S. stock market was closed yesterday for a holiday, but it might have been for the better, because the speculators got the chance to drive the futures for the U.S. indices up without looking over their shoulder at the conservative investors,” Alor Broker senior analyst Alexei Antonov said.

“Today’s background supports purchases again, as the futures for the U.S. indices add about 0.5 percentage point, and the oil price is above U.S. $63 per barrel. That is why we expect the Russian market to open with a noticeable increase, which should drive the MOEX Russia Index to new historic records.”

Ivan Semchenkov, analyst at investment company Finam, also said that the background for the Russian market was positive, as the futures for the S&P 500 index gained 0.65% as of 8.34 a.m. Moscow time, while the futures for Germany’s DAX index rose by 0.19%.

The mood of European investors is upbeat as the indices closed higher on Monday thanks to the shares of banks and energy companies on expectations of new U.S. stimulation measures. Also, the oil prices grew on the tensions in the Middle East and freezes in Texas, the largest oil producing state in the U.S., Semchenkov said.

Georgy Vashchenko, head of the department for trade operations on the Russian stock market at Freedom Finance, said that investors will focus on financial reports of metals giant Norilsk Nickel and internet giant Yandex during the day.

Norilsk Nickel is expected to show a net profit of U.S. $4.4 billion for 2020, excluding an obligation to pay compensation for a fuel spill, and there is no risk for the company to revise its dividend policys. The consensus forecast for Yandex showed a net profit of 24 billion rubles for October–December 2020, but the company’s real performance may be worse, as the forecast is too optimistic, Vashchenko said.

(73.3092 rubles – U.S. $1)

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