Stocks to fall ahead of Fed meeting, rising international tension

MOSCOW, Jan 26 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market will likely open lower on Wednesday as investors' anxiety ahead of publication of U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) meeting minutes will add to the geopolitical uncertainty, analysts said.

"Anxiety reigns on our market… The Russian Foreign Ministry says that if a U.S. and NATO’s response to the security guarantees is disappointing, serious political decisions will be made. The local stock indices’ trend is down," Andrei Vernikov of Univer Capital said.

According to Vernikov, revision of the 2022 global gross domestic product (GDP) forecast by the International Monetary Fund to a 0.5% decrease is an additional negative factor for investors.

The Brent oil prices still rise, but a strong trend did not form although the prices broke through a U.S. $86.7 level, and tensions on Middle East persist, he said. 

Bogdan Zvarich, senior analyst at financial supermarket Banki.ru, said that the external background for the session’s start is moderately negative as the Asian markets decreased by up to 0.4% and U.S. futures added up to 0.1%.

The market will wait for the results of a meeting of the U.S. Fed, for any information on the speed of the key rate increase, and on the write-off of bonds from the Fed account.

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