2h ago
15:19
Moscow stock market slides on second day after
reopening
The Russian stock market fell back today, wiping out
much of Thursday’s rally when the exchange reopened for the first time in
almost a month.
The Moex
share index slid by 3.66% today, with every sector in the red, having gained
4.4% yesterday.
Limited stock
trading resumed yesterday with several restrictions to prop up shares,
including a ban on short-selling, and on foreign investors selling stocks. That
helped to spark a rally yesterday, when oil and commodity stocks jumped.
Analysts
have pointed out that these curbs meant Moscow’s market wasn’t operating
properly, while the US dubbed it a “Potemkin market opening”.
But despite
these measures, airline Aeroflot shed another 18% today, on top of Thursday’s
16% drop. Sanctions have barred its jets from EU and UK airspace.
Gas giant
Gazprom fell 12%, after the US and EC agreed a deal to cut Europe’s dependency
on Russian gas.
Steel giant
Severstal fell 9%, with reports that sanctions were holding up a loan payment
to ite creditors, putting it on the verge of default.
Before
Thursday, stocks had not traded on Moscow’s exchange since February 25, the day
after Putin sent thousands of troops into Ukraine.
The move
prompted Western sanctions aimed at isolating Russia economically, which are
driving the country into a deep recession.
The
rouble-denominated Moex is now down 34% so far this year, having plunged when
the invasion began in February before trading was suspended. In dollar terms,
it’s almost halved.
Dmitry
Polevoy, an analyst at Locko-Invest in Moscow, told Bloomberg:
“Yesterday,
the main theme was hot money searching for tactical buying.
Today, we
see some selling plus more activity from people who stayed aside yesterday seem
to be driving the move.”
“Price-discovery
will take time as it is hard to correctly assess new fair prices. The sanctions
story is still open-ended.”
With the
slump in the rouble driving up prices, some investors may be looking to stocks
as a hedge against inflation.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário