Russian stock market to resume trading of 33 companies

Credit Bank of Moscow, Gazprom PSJC, Lukoil PSJC, Novatek PAO, Sberbank PSJC and VTB Bank among companies resuming trading

After a nearly month-long suspension, the Moscow Stock Exchange is slated to resume trading of 33 companies in the benchmark MOEX Index on Thursday from 9:50 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time. In the U.S. that is 2:50 a.m. ET to 7 a.m.

Some of the biggest Russian companies that will trade include the Credit Bank of Moscow, Gazprom PSJC, Lukoil PSJC, Novatek PAO, Sberbank PSJC and VTB Bank. The Bank of Russia emphasized that there would be a ban on short-selling of the 33 stocks. 

STOCKS SLIDE AS RUSSIA, UKRAINE DRIVES OIL, GOLD HIGHER

Under a policy announced on Feb. 28, Russian brokerages are temporarily banned from selling the securities of foreign clients. Foreign investors owned approximately $86 billion of Russian stocks at the end of 2021, according to data from the Moscow Exchange. 

Moscow Exchange

An interior view shows the headquarters of Moscow Exchange in Russia on April 27, 2021. (Reuters/Maxim Shemetov/Files)

The move to resume trading of select stocks comes after the exchange restarted trading of federal loan bonds on Monday. 

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The Moscow Stock Exchange's longest suspension in history started after the U.S. and other nations imposed sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions have clobbered the Russian economy and briefly sent the ruble to a record low

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
BP BP PLC 37.91 -0.43 -1.13%
SHEL SHELL PLC 71.03 -0.11 -0.15%
GS THE GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC. 403.11 -0.89 -0.22%
JPM JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. 181.25 +1.29 +0.72%
DB DEUTSCHE BANK AG 15.81 +0.14 +0.89%

Since the invasion started, a slew of companies have announced they would suspend Russian operations or investment, including oil giants BP and Shell and big banks such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank. 

MSCI Inc. also said it would reclassify the MSCI Russia Indexes from "Emerging Markets" to "Standalone Market" status and the FTSE Russell removed Russian stocks from its equity indices. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
ICE INTERCONTINENTAL EXCHANGE INC. 130.98 +0.24 +0.18%
NDAQ NASDAQ INC. 60.07 +0.06 +0.10%

In addition, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq have suspended trading of Russia-based companies and select Russian banks were removed from the SWIFT financial system