The Russian stock market has collapsed to the late November 2020 levels according to the Moscow Exchange and RTS indices. Interfax reports.
It is noted that the fall happened due to the military escalation of the situation in Donbass, and attempts at a corrective rebound have not yet met support from investors. The drop in indicators at the peak of sales was the highest since March 2020, while trading volumes are close to record.
The Moscow Exchange index was 3,129.5 points (-7.8 percent) and the RTS index was 1,252.85 points (-10 percent) with most blue-chip traders in the Moscow Exchange down 11.8 percent.
Shares of Rosneft, ALROSA, Inter RAO, Magnit, Sberbank, Surgutneftegas, NOVATEK, Aeroflot, Gazprom and other major companies lost their value.
According to Alexey Antonov, chief analyst at Alor Broker, there is no particular confidence that investment purchases will begin in the coming days. The market remains under pressure from reports of another aggravation of the situation around Donbass. It is unlikely that in such a situation, large capital, especially foreign capital, will purchase Russian shares. In general, there are still risks of drop of the Moscow Exchange index to 3,000 points, the expert believes.
An extraordinary meeting of Russia’s Security Council was held in Moscow on February 21 to discuss the issue of recognizing the independence of the DPR and LPR. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the decree.
Earlier, the US leader Joe Biden signed a decree banning trade and investment with the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. The document was published on the White House website.
On February 22, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered an address and said that Kiev was seeking peace and would continue diplomatic work in this direction following Russia’s decision to recognize the Donbas republics.
The Kyrgyz president believes that this may have been a forced measure. Sadyr Japarov spoke out about the conflict in Ukraine on social media.
