Stocks may open higher as sanction fears abate, oil prices grow

MOSCOW, Feb 15 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks are likely to open higher on Friday as investor worries over new U.S. sanctions abated, while a recent growth of oil prices supports the local market, analysts said.

“Late on Thursday, media reports appeared that the new edition of the sanction bill of senators Bob Menendez and Lindsay Graham softens potential sanctions against banks…The new edition only slaps sanctions on the banks that provided financial or other support to Russia’s interference into the democratic process or elections of any other state,” Mikhail Poddubsky, Promsvyazbank’s senior analyst, said.

“The reports prompted the Russian ruble to claw back some losses of the past two days, and the Russian stock market may try to do the same.”

Vitaly Manzhos, senior risk manager at Algo Capital, said that the background for the Russian stock market was mixed early in the day as the recent oil price growth balances a noticeable contraction of the U.S. stock index futures and the fall of the Asian bourses.

“At the same time, a significant improvement of futures for the MOEX Russia Index and the RTS index last evening allows us to expect that the local stock market will stop its two-day fall,” Manzhos said, adding that the MOEX Russia Index may open with a moderate increase of about 0.3–0.4% in the range of 2,470–2,475.

But Anton Startsev, senior analyst at investment company Olma, said that technical analysis says that the RTS index is more likely to fall at the start of trade.

“The first and emotional market reaction to the worsening of the sanction risks may go away, but the list of market pressure factors was extended by concerns over condition of the global economy. The U.S. and Germany posted unexpectedly weak statistics…China’s producer prices are growing slower, which many people link to weak demand, and there is also no progress in the U.S.–China trade talks,” Startsev said.

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