Russian assets returned to trading on Monday after almost a month on the sidelines, with bidding on OFZ government bonds open for limited hours on the Moscow Exchange.
On Friday, the Central Bank of Russia announced that trading in federal loan bonds would resume after 10 a.m. Moscow time on Monday and in the usual format between 1 and 5. The time. The trading of such instruments was stopped for three weeks.
The benchmark 10-year OFZ ruble treasury bonds spiked to an all-time high of 19.7% in early pre-market trade, but had settled to around 13% shortly before official trading was due to begin.
The central bank said that trading on the Moscow Exchange for other instruments will take place in a similar way to what happened on March 18, 2022.
The key interest rate was held at 20% last week after doubling it in late February. The Bank said Friday that it would purchase OFZ bonds when the Moscow Exchange resumed trading them on Monday.
Purchases will be made during the time it takes to complete the adjustment of the prices of financial instruments to the new conditions.
The Russian stock market has been closed since Feb. 25 because of the invasion and sanctions. There are a lot of transactions that need to be cleared before equity trading can resume. Over the next two weeks, additional financial market operations will be allowed to resume.
The ruble was trading at 105 to the dollar in Europe.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
