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Bloomberg
Russian equities erased earlier advance and fall during the second day of limited trading after a record long shutdown of the country’s stock market.
The MOEX Russia Index was down 2.9% by 12:18 pm in Moscow after earlier rising as much as 3.3%. Gas giant Gazprom PJSC led losses after the US and the European Union reached a deal to cut dependence on Russia for liquefied natural gas.
The gauge had climbed 4.4% in the shortened session as the Russian government took measures, including preventing foreigners from exiting local equities and banning short selling, to avoid a repeat of the 33% slump seen on the first day of Ukraine invasion last month. Russian equities are the world’s worst performers so far this year.
Russia is slowly reopening its equity trading after suspending it from Feb. 28 until yesterday after the nation was hit with unprecedented sanctions, spanning everything from its ability to access foreign reserves to the Swift bank-messaging system.
The Moscow Exchange is holding trading in 33 shares on MOEX index, while stocks outside the benchmark are trading in a special negotiated mode.
Oil producer Lukoil PJSC dropped today with crude prices and lender Sberbank PJSC also slipped, while fertilizer producer PhosAgro PJSC gained.