Stocks to open flat on oil price fall, unchanged political environ

MOSCOW, Feb 8 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market is likely to start the main trading session on Tuesday nearly neutrally as the oil price provides no support for the national market, while no improvements have emerged in the geopolitical sphere, analysts said.

“So far, everything signals that our market is generally aiming towards a sideways movement with a slight tendency for a fall,” Alor Broker senior analyst Alexei Antonov said.

The Russian market eased in early trade as the oil price fell below U.S. $93 per barrel after seven consecutive weeks of growth and became a reason for non-aggressive sales, Antonov said.

Andrei Kochetkov, leading analyst for global research at Otkritie Research, said that the external background was neutral prior to the start of the main trading session. The Asian indices showed mixed dynamics, prices for commercial metals rose, but the oil price fell. The U.S. dollar index gained about 0.2%, and the ruble strengthened on continuation of the Russia-West negotiaitons.

“The Russian market is not ready for any serious movements,” he said.

Andrei Vernikov, head of investment company’s Univer Capital department for investment analysis and education, said that there were no improvements in the geopolitical background after a meeting of President Vladimir Putin with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

“President Putin again confirmed the unwavering position towards NATO. President Macron again confirmed NATO’s principle of open doors and complimented Ukrainian President (Volodymyr) Zelensky. It is obvious that France is not rushing to reanimate the Minsk Agreements as a guarantor. The geopolitical tensions did not soften a bit after the visit,” Vernikov said.

“Our investors have a serious internal factor to be active on the market. They are waiting for the central bank’s key rate decision and the news conference of the central bank’s chairwoman on Friday.”

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