Stocks may open higher on favorable environment, oil price rise

MOSCOW, Aug 8 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market may open higher on Thursday thanks to improvement of the external environment with recovering crude prices and global indices, analysts said.

“The external background looks neutral ahead of the Russian stock market’s opening. Global indices continue to recover locally after a steep fall on a trade war dispute (between China and the U.S.)… The MOEX Russia Index may open higher,” Solid Broker analysts said.

But crude prices are very sensitive to the situation so Russian stocks may be unable to follow global trends, they added.

Olma senior analyst Anton Startsev said that the RTS index is likely to continue consolidating around the 1,300 mark, and rise at the beginning of the session thanks to softening of the global environment after China had introduced steps to stabilize the yuan.

Saudi Arabia’s talks with other states on measures to support oil prices have improved crude price dynamics, Startsev added. The Brent is seen almost 3% higher at U.S. $57.80.

In Russia, investors may also be interested in IFRS financial report releases for January–June by oil company Gazprom Neft, VTB Bank, U.K.-based mining giant Evraz, which operates mainly in Russia, mobile operator MegaFon and power company Unipro.

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