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Tag Archives: Rouble
Russian rouble slumps around 3% vs dollar as sanctions weigh
MOSCOW, Dec 27 (Reuters) – The rouble dived around 3% against the dollar on Tuesday, failing to consolidate a recovery from last week’s slide as the market comes to terms with the prospect of lower export revenue in the wake of restrictions on Russian oil.
The rouble lost about 8% against the dollar last week and is on course for a hefty monthly decline after an oil embargo and price cap came into force. The finance ministry has said the recent slump was related to recovering imports.
By 1519 GMT the rouble was 3% weaker against the dollar at 71.36 , heading back towards the almost eight-month low of 72.6325 struck last week.
“At the end of December, the rouble is likely to remain extremely volatile as the market will need to find a new equilibrium under changed trade flows and increased sanctions pressure,” BCS World of Investments said in a note.
“This week, the rouble is expected to fluctuate in the range of 68-71 (per dollar).”
Against the euro, the rouble lost 3.4% to 76.03 . Against the yuan, it was down 3.3% at 10.09 .
The rouble just about remains the world’s best-performing major currency against the dollar this year, supported by capital controls and reduced imports.
Now, with exports and revenues falling, a weaker rouble is more beneficial, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov said on Tuesday.
“The strong rouble has played its role,” Belousov said. “In these conditions … it would be good to have a rouble rate of 70-80 per dollar.”
Brent crude oil , a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, was up 1% at $84.8 a barrel while Russian stock indexes were mixed.
The dollar-denominated RTS index (.IRTS) was down 2.9% at 948.8 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index (.IMOEX) was 0.5% higher at 2,148.8 points after earlier touching its highest in nearly two weeks.
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Reporting by Alexander Marrow;
Editing by David Goodman and Emelia Sithole-Matarise
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Rouble recovers from near eight-month low vs dollar
MOSCOW, Dec 22 (Reuters) – The rouble recovered on Thursday after hitting its weakest mark since late April as the prospect of a favourable month-end tax period mitigated concerns over the impact of sanctions on Russian oil and gas.
By 1343 GMT, the rouble was up 0.4% against the dollar at 70.68 after earlier hitting 72.6325, its weakest since April 28, which had taken monthly losses to more than 15%.
It also pared losses to gain 0.5% to trade at 75.18 versus the euro , having earlier slid past the 77 mark for the first time since late April, and recovered to gain 0.4% against the yuan to 10.04 , up from a near seven-month low.
Should the rouble consolidate above the psychologically important levels of 70 per dollar, 75 to the euro and 10 per yuan, it could open up new downside horizons for the Russian currency, Veles Capital analysts said.
Falling export revenues in recent months have been exacerbated by a European Union oil embargo that began in December, when an oil price cap also took effect.
Brent crude oil , a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, was up 0.6% at $82.7 a barrel.
Analysts expect the rouble to find a foothold next week when month-end taxes, which usually see Russian exporters convert FX revenues to pay local liabilities, are due.
Russia has been borrowing heavily in the final quarter of the year, on Wednesday selling 337.8 billion roubles ($4.81 billion) of OFZ treasury bonds.
Russian banks have bought the vast majority of government debt, with sanctions preventing access for foreign investors, who had traditionally been attracted by Russia’s high yields.
Dominant lender Sberbank (SBER.MM) plans to build its liquidity buffer using bonds with floating-rate coupons, Anatoly Popov, deputy chairman of Sberbank’s executive board, told the RIA news agency. The bank holds more than 3 trillion roubles in OFZ bonds.
Russian stock indexes were higher.
The dollar-denominated RTS index (.IRTS) was up 0.8% at 947.6 points, recovering from its lowest mark since Oct. 10. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index (.IMOEX) was 0.5% higher at 2,125.9 points.
($1 = 70.2750 roubles)
Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Tom Hogue, Toby Chopra and Barbara Lewis
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Rouble heads away from 50 vs dollar as authorities flag interventions
A picture illustration shows Russian rouble banknotes of various denominations on a table in Warsaw, Poland, January 22, 2016. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
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MOSCOW, June 29 (Reuters) – The rouble pared gains in volatile trade on Wednesday as Russia’s finance minister flagged possible interventions to ease upside pressure on the currency after it neared 50 against the dollar for the first time since May 2015.
The rouble has become the world’s best-performing currency this year, boosted by measures – including restrictions on Russian households withdrawing foreign currency savings – taken to shield Russia’s financial system from Western sanctions imposed after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.
The strong rouble raised concerns among officials and export-focused companies as it dents Russia’s income from selling commodities and other goods abroad for dollars and euros.
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Many Russian companies, primarily non oil-and-gas exporters, are already suffering financially, said Evgeny Suvorov, an economist at CentroCreditBank.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Russia could cut state spending and channel funds for foreign currency interventions to keep a lid on the rouble’s strengthening which threatens budget revenue. read more
The rouble pared gains after the comment and was 0.4% weaker on the day at 52.00 to the greenback at 1154 GMT after hitting 50.01.
Proceeds from commodity exports, a sharp drop in imports, and month-end tax payments in roubles by export-oriented Russian firms are further factors behind the currency’s gains.
“The rouble (is) set to retreat over the coming days… With the month’s main tax payments now in the rearview mirror, hard currency purchasers may begin to step in,” Sberbank CIB said in a note.
The rouble is up nearly 44% year-to-date on the Moscow Exchange but remains much weaker at banks. VTB (VTBR.MM), Russia’s No.2 bank, offered to sell cash dollars and euros at 63.45 and 67.85, respectively.
Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov said this month that industry would be more comfortable if it fell between 70 to 80 against the dollar.
Against the euro, the rouble was 0.6% stronger at 54.20, having earlier climbed beyond 53 for the first time since April 2015 .
Capital controls have enabled the currency to shrug off what the White House and Moody’s credit agency said on Monday was the first default by Russia in more than a century on its international bonds. read more
The Kremlin, which has hard currency from oil and gas revenue to make the scheduled payments on the debt, has rejected the designation, calling it artificial and engineered by Western sanctions.
Just before Russia embarked on what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine, the rouble traded near 80 to the dollar and 90 against the euro. At that time it traded in free-float mode and, unsupported by capital controls, got hammered due to fears of sanctions.
On the stock market, the dollar-denominated RTS index (.IRTS) fell 1.1% to 1,449.1 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index (.IMOEX) was 1% lower at 2,384.5 points.
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Reporting by Reuters; editing by John Stonestreet, Angus MacSwan and Emelia Sithole-Matarise
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Rouble falls as Russia relaxes capital controls; Rosbank shares jump 40%
A view shows Russian rouble coins in this illustration picture taken March 25, 2021. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Illustration/File Photo
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April 11 (Reuters) – The rouble weakened sharply on Monday, reversing some of the previous week’s gains, after Russia relaxed temporary capital control measures aimed at limiting a drop in the currency.
Shares in Rosbank (ROSB.MM), a Russian subsidiary of French bank Societe Generale, jumped 40% after SocGen said it would quit Russia and take a 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) income hit from selling Rosbank to Interros Capital, a firm linked to Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin. read more
By 1500 GMT, the rouble had lost more than 4% of its value in jittery trade, sliding to 79.45 to the dollar , and was down 4.5% to 86.45 against the euro .
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During the trading session on Moscow Exchange, the rouble fell to 82.0950 against the dollar, from the 71 roubles hit on Friday which was its strongest since Nov. 11. read more
Late on Friday the central bank said it would scrap a 12% commission for buying foreign currency through brokerages from April 11 and lift a temporary ban on selling foreign exchange cash to individuals from April 18. read more
“The central bank gave markets a unequivocal signal that a further rouble strengthening was undesirable,” said Vladimir Evstifeev, an analyst at Zenit Bank.
The decision to scrap the 12% commission on FX operations means speculators will be able to trade again, Alor Brokerage said, adding market players were tending to lock in even small profits.
The rouble retains support from the obligatory conversion of 80% of FX revenues by export-focused companies as well as from high interest rates, even though the central bank unexpectedly cut its key rate from 20% to 17% last week. read more
ITI Capital analysts said Russia receives about $1.4 billion a day in export revenues and the rouble could firm further, given Russian capital controls and shrinking imports.
The central bank’s cut supported Russian OFZ government bonds. The finance ministry said at the weekend that it wouldn’t borrow on local or foreign debt markets this year.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov also said Russia would take legal action if the West tried to force it to default on its sovereign debt. read more
Yields on 10-year OFZs, which move inversely with their prices, fell to 10.45% on Monday . That was their lowest since Feb. 21, three days before Russia started what it calls “a special military operation” in Ukraine, triggering unprecedented Western sanctions against Russia.
On the stock market, the dollar-denominated RTS index (.IRTS) fell 5.8% to 1,017.4 points and the rouble-based MOEX Russian index (.IMOEX) shed 1% to 2,566.6 points, with losses limited by the rouble’s slide.
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Reporting by Reuters
Editing by David Goodman and Mark Potter
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Russia steps up economic retaliation with Eurobond rouble buyback offer
A view shows Russian rouble coins in this picture illustration taken October 26, 2018. Picture taken October 26, 2018. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
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LONDON, March 29 (Reuters) – Russia retaliated in what it has called an “economic war” with the West on Tuesday by offering to buy back its $2 billion Eurobonds maturing next month in roubles rather than dollars.
The finance ministry offer on Eurobonds maturing on April 4, Russia’s biggest debt payment this year, follows Western moves to tighten sanctions against the country over its invasion of Ukraine and to freeze Moscow out of international finance.
Moscow, which calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation”, says Western measures amount to “economic war”. In response, it has already demanded foreign firms pay for Russian gas in roubles rather than dollars or euros. read more
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It was not immediately clear if bondholders would be forced to accept roubles if they rejected the offer, a move that would break the terms of the bond and would again raise the prospect of Russia’s first external sovereign default in a century.
Creditors said it might be aimed at helping Russian holders who now face restrictions in receiving dollar payments.
“This is a tender offer and not a final decision that these bonds will be paid in roubles. Perhaps, Russian authorities want to gauge investors’ willingness to accept payment in roubles?” said Seaport Global credit analyst Himanshu Porwal.
Tim Ash of BlueBay Asset Management, which is not a bondholder, said the move was part of a fight back by Russia’s central bank and finance ministry “to fend off default and stabilise markets and the rouble”.
Ash said the United States’ Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which enforces U.S. sanctions, “should make clear” it will not extend a deadline of May 25 for U.S. individuals or entities to receive payments on Russian sovereign bonds.
Russia’s finance ministry said in its statement on Tuesday that bondholders should submit requests to sell their holdings to the National Settlement Depository between 1300 GMT on March 29 and 1400 GMT on March 30.
SECURING PAYMENT
The Eurobonds would be bought at a price equivalent to 100% of their nominal value, it said.
A fund manager said the ministry’s offer might be designed to help Russian investors secure payment because Euroclear, an international settlement system, had been blocking dollar payments to the Russian clearing system.
“Everybody wants dollars right now – in and outside Russia – so I would assume that only local holders and local banks that have issues with sanctions will make use of this operation,” said Kaan Nazli, portfolio manager at Neuberger Berman, which recently reduced its exposure to Russian sovereign debt.
Nazli, who said he had not previously seen a buyback that switched the repayment currency, added that foreign investors were unlikely to be interested given the rouble “is no longer a convertible currency.”
The rouble initially crumbled after the West imposed sanctions, plunging as much as 40% in value against the dollar since the start of 2022. It has since recovered and was trading down about 10% in Moscow on Tuesday.
The finance ministry did not provide a breakdown of foreign and Russian holders of the Eurobond-2022. It did not respond to a request about how much of the outstanding $2 billion it wanted to buy back or what would happen if investors refused the offer.
The bond has a 30-day grace period and no provisions for payments in alternative currencies, JPMorgan said.
According to Refinitiv database eMAXX, which analyses public filings, major asset managers such as Brandywine, Axa, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, BlackRock were recently among the holders of the bond coming due on April 4.
The finance ministry had said earlier on Tuesday it had fully paid a $102 million coupon on Russia’s Eurobond due in 2035, its third payout since Western sanctions called into question Moscow’s ability to service its foreign currency debt.
Russian sovereign debt repayments have so far gone through, staving off a default, although sanctions have frozen a chunk of Moscow’s huge foreign reserves. Russian officials have said any problem with payment that led to a formal declaration of default would be an artificial default.
Russia’s next payment is on March 31 when a $447 million payment falls due. On April 4, it also should pay $84 million in coupon a 2042 sovereign dollar bond . read more
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Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Alexander Smith and Carmel Crimmins
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Rouble hits record low in Moscow, remains volatile outside Russia
Russian Rouble coins are seen in front of displayed U.S. Dollar banknote in this illustration taken, February 24, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Files
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NEW YORK, March 2 (Reuters) – The rouble touched a record low of 110 to the dollar in Moscow on Wednesday and crawled back near 100 in other trading platforms, though it continued under pressure as Russia’s financial system teetered under the weight of Western sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian stock market remained closed and trading on bonds showed wide bid-ask spreads and little-to-no volume.
The rouble fell 4.5% to 106.02 against the dollar in Moscow trade , earlier hitting 110.0, a record low. It has lost 30% of its value against the dollar since the start of the year. Against the euro , it shed 2.5% on Wednesday to finish the day at 115.40.
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But trading outside of Russia , saw the currency rebound to end the day up 6% to 100 on the EBS platform and 7.6% at 97.6 elsewhere.
The currency is still over 20% weaker than where it traded at during the first half of February.
On the EBS platform, the rouble has this week had the three widest daily ranges since 2010, with Monday the widest range on record.
“Who gosh-darn knows what’s going to happen tomorrow,” said Colin Stewart, head of Americas at Quant Insight in New York.
“It’s just too volatile.”
Russia has responded to the currency weakness by more than doubling its benchmark interest rate to 20% and telling companies to convert 80% of their foreign currency revenues on the domestic market as the central bank, which is now under Western sanctions, has stopped foreign exchange interventions.
The weak rouble will hit living standards in Russia and fan already high inflation, while Western sanctions are expected to create shortages of essential goods and services such as cars or flights. read more
Many international companies have announced plans to exit Russia, while the country’s credit ratings are coming under pressure as a result of the crisis.
Credit rating agency Moody’s said it was reviewing Russia’s rating for a downgrade, a move that “reflects the negative credit implications for Russia’s credit profile from the additional and more severe sanctions being imposed.”
JPMorgan said about $4.2 billion in Russian debt is at risk of being kicked out of investment-grade bond indexes.
Meanwhile, Scope Ratings said capital controls “raise significant questions surrounding the Russian state’s willingness to service its debt owed to foreign residents” a day after cutting its Russia rating to junk status.
The measures, Scope added, make Russia “more vulnerable to banking and liquidity crises.”
In a separate note, JPMorgan said there was a deep recession in the making for Russia and the bank was reassessing its regional macro forecasts.
“The most recent measures targeting the CBR have completely changed the picture,” JPMorgan said.
“Russia’s large current account surplus could have accommodated large capital outflows, but with accompanying CBR and SWIFT sanctions, on top of the existing restrictions, it is likely that Russia’s export earnings will be disrupted, and capital outflows will likely be immediate.”
Several Russian banks have been barred from the SWIFT global financial network that facilitates transfers between banks.
As households and businesses in Russia have rushed to convert the falling rouble into foreign currency, banks raised rates for foreign currency deposits to attract those flows.
Russia’s largest lender Sberbank (SBER.MM) is offering to pay 4% on deposits of up to $1,000, while the largest private lender Alfa Bank is offering 8% on three-month dollar deposits. For rouble deposits, Sberbank offers a 20% annual return.
Sberbank said on Wednesday it was quitting almost all European markets, blaming big cash outflows and threats to its staff and property, after the ECB ordered the closure of its European arm. read more
The bank’s London-traded shares fell to 4.5 cents from $16 at the start of the year.
A U.S.-traded ETF of Russian companies and others heavily exposed to Russia fell 13% on Wednesday, for a 72% drop since mid-February.
Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its neighbour’s military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.
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Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Jane Merriman, Jonathan Oatis and Grant McCool
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Russian rouble plunges 28% after US and allies impose tighter sanctions
Russia’s currency tumbled more than 28 per cent to a record low in early trading on Monday, as a new round of western sanctions heaped pressure on the country’s financial system in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
The rouble dropped to almost 118 against the US dollar, according to Bloomberg data, following a weekend when Russian president Vladimir Putin put his nuclear forces on high alert and the US and Europe unleashed their toughest sanctions in a bid to cut the country off from the global financial system.
In an attempt to stem the market fallout, Russia’s central bank banned foreign selling of Russian securities on Monday. No information was provided on when the ban would be lifted.
The central bank also said trading on Russia’s stock markets would not open for the morning session and that it would announce later today if equity trading would resume. The country’s benchmark Moex index has fallen by more than a quarter over the past week.
The market moves came as Ukraine’s military said on Monday it had repelled another night of attacks on Kyiv, with columns of Russian troops repeatedly attempting to storm the capital.
Ukraine’s military also said that enemy troops continued to attack airports, air defence systems, critical infrastructure and residential areas around the country.
Russian and Ukrainian military claims cannot be independently verified.
In an early sign of how Moscow is being pushed further to the fringes of world markets, Norway said on Sunday that its $1.3tn oil fund, the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, would freeze its investments in Russian assets and begin divesting from the country. BP, the UK energy group, also said it would divest its 20 per cent stake in Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft it has held since 2013.
The rouble had already been hit hard in the previous week, sliding to record lows following the invasion and the imposition of sanctions by the US and Europe.
The US and its allies ratcheted up those punitive measures on Saturday, taking aim at Russia’s central bank to prevent it from using international reserves. Western allies also agreed to cut some of the country’s lenders out of the Swift messaging system, a crucial piece of infrastructure for global payments.
Russians have been forming long queues to withdraw money out of cash machines, with the central bank lacking an obvious mechanism to stabilise its economy and currency.
The Russian central bank stepped in to shore up the rouble last week by selling foreign currency reserves. But the weekend’s sanctions against the central bank compromise its scope to keep up this support.
“Put simply, Russia’s ability to transact with any financial institution at a global level will be severely impaired, because most international banks across any jurisdiction use Swift,” George Saravelos, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, wrote in a note to clients.
Saravelos added that he expected financial markets to reflect intensifying risks to energy supplies, denting investors’ willingness to buy risky assets and potentially also dragging down the euro.
“Money markets may experience some deterioration in funding conditions this week on the back of the uncertain impact of an asset freeze on global liquidity. It would be expected that the European Central Bank, Fed and other central banks step in to provide a powerful backstop if needed and we would not rule out inter-meeting announcements,” he said, adding that the rouble and other European emerging market currencies are likely to come under pressure.
On Friday, rating agency S&P Global cut Russia’s debt rating to “junk” status, underlining the risk that the military assault on Ukraine could prove even more deeply damaging to the country’s financial markets.
Russia’s central bank sought to calm market nerves on Sunday, saying it would offer unlimited liquidity to banks. “The Russian banking system is stable, and has sufficient capacity of capital and liquidity to function in any situation,” it said.
Crude rallies, rouble plunges to record low as Ukraine risks rise
Russian Rouble coins are seen in this illustration taken, February 24, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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TOKYO, Feb 28 (Reuters) – Crude oil jumped while the rouble plunged nearly 30% to a fresh record low on Monday after Western nations imposed new sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, including blocking some banks from the SWIFT international payments system.
Haven demand boosted bond yields along with the dollar and yen while the euro sank after Russian President Vladimir Putin put nuclear-armed forces on high alert on Sunday, the fourth day of the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two. read more
The ramp-up in tensions heightened fears that oil supplies from the world’s second-largest producer could be disrupted, sending Brent crude futures up $4.21 or 4.3% at $102.14. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up $4.58 or 5.0% at $96.17 a barrel.
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U.S. and European stock futures sank, but Asia-Pacific stocks were mostly higher in volatile trading, buoyed by Wall Street gains from Friday, when the S&P 500 closed up 2.51%, said Kyle Rodda, a market analyst at IG Australia.
“We had a deluge of very negative information over the weekend,” Rodda said. “My sense is there’s not going to be much staying power behind this particular move (in Asia-Pacific stocks), considering we’re talking about financial stability risks, and sprinkle over that the threat of nuclear war.”
“Volatility is heightened,” he said. “Price action is incredibly choppy.”
U.S. emini stock futures were pointing to a 1.57% drop at the restart, while pan-European EURO STOXX 50 futures lost 2.83%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 (.N225) rose 0.48%, recovering from an earlier loss. Australia’s benchmark (.AXJO) added 0.64% after also being down at one point. Chinese blue chips (.CSI300), though, slipped 0.21%.
MSCI’s index of regional stocks (.MIAP00000PUS) eked out a 0.09% gain.
Meanwhile, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell about 6 basis point to 1.92%, and equivalent Australian yields also retreated about 6 basis points, to 2.18%.
The euro slid 0.9% to $1.1170 and 0.87% to 129.065 yen , while the risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars sank 0.66% and 0.76%, respectively.
The rouble tumbled 29.37% to a record-low 119 per dollar.
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Editing by Stephen Coates
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Rouble sinks, stocks plunge as Russia recognises Ukraine breakaway regions
MOSCOW, Feb 21 (Reuters) – The rouble tanked on Monday, slipping past 80 against the dollar, while stocks plunged to their lowest in over a year as Russian President Vladimir Putin called for the immediate recognition of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.
Putin signed a decree recognising the breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent entities, upping the ante in a regional crisis the West fears could erupt into war. read more
The rouble fell to as low as 80.0650 against the dollar during Putin’s lengthy televised address to the Russian nation but pared some losses as Putin announced his decision, which he said would find support among Russian people.
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The sharp drop in the rouble from levels around 70 to the greenback seen just four months ago is expected to fuel already high inflation, one of the main concerns among Russians, which would dent the country’s already falling living standards.
By 1956 GMT, the rouble fell 2.7% to 79.37 against the dollar . It had been as strong as 76.1450 earlier in the session.
Against the euro, the rouble had lost 2.6% to 89.79 after hitting 90.7850, a level last seen in April 2021.
No Russian assets were left unscathed, with stocks cascading to their lowest since early November 2020 and bond yields, which move inversely to prices, soaring to their highest since January 2016.
The dollar-denominated RTS index (.IRTS) finished the day 13.2% lower at 1,207.5 points and the rouble-based MOEX Russian index (.IMOEX) lost 10.5% to 3,036.9 points.
Yields on Russia’s 10-year benchmark OFZ bonds hit a high of 10.64%. The cost of insuring Russia sovereign debt against default also surged to its highest since early 2016 and both Moscow and Kyiv’s sovereign dollar bonds tumbled.
Goldman Sachs analysts said it now seemed plausible that geopolitical risks in the Ukraine-Russia standoff were starting to have a meaningful impact on global assets.
Comparing the rouble with its high-yielding emerging market peers was a good measure of the amount of risk premium still priced into the rouble, they said.
“On that basis, our latest estimates would put the risk premium from recent escalation at 9% based on Friday’s closing prices,” Goldman Sachs said.
DIPLOMACY VS. SANCTIONS
The prospect of a possible summit between Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden, as well as upcoming talks between the United States and Russia’s top diplomats on Feb. 24, had given investors a glimmer of hope earlier in the session.
Despite Moscow’s repeated denials of Western statements saying that it plans to invade neighbouring Ukraine, Russian assets have been hammered by fears of a military conflict that would almost certainly trigger sweeping new Western sanctions against Moscow.
Washington has prepared an initial package of sanctions against Russia that includes barring U.S. financial institutions from processing transactions for major Russian banks, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. read more
Shares of Russia’s top banks Sberbank (SBER.MM) and VTB (VTBR.MM) fell 20% and 17% respectively, underperforming the wider market.
Oil major Rosneft’s (ROSN.MM) shares also dropped 13.3%.
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Reporting by Alexander Marrow and Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Stephen Coates, Bernadette Baum, Tomasz Janowski, Andrew Heavens and Aurora Ellis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.