Moscow Stock Exchange suspends trading in dollars and euros

ASIATODAY.ID, MOSCOW – The Moscow Stock Exchange (MOEX) suspended trading in dollars and euros on Wednesday. The trigger was a new sanctions package that the US Treasury Department had presented earlier in the day.

The suspension affects trading in foreign and precious metals as well as stock and money trading on Russia’s largest public trading venues, MOEX said in a statement. With the exception of the dollar and the euro, all other financial instruments are still operating. The derivatives market is also not affected by the changes and trading is continuing as usual, MOEX said.

The Russian Central Bank elaborated on the matter in a separate statement, saying that “transactions in US dollars and euros will continue on the over-the-counter market.” To set exchange rates, the Bank of Russia will use “bank records and information from digital over-the-counter trading platforms,” ​​the regulator added.

On Wednesday, the US Treasury Department issued a new package of measures against Russia that targets the country’s “basic financial infrastructure.” In announcing the package of measures, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen claimed that Russia had completely transformed itself into a “war economy” and was now “deeply isolated” from the international financial system.

“Today’s actions attack their remaining avenues of access to international supplies and equipment, including their dependence on vital supplies from third countries,” Yellen said.

In addition to MOEX, the sanctions package was also directed against its two subsidiaries, namely the National Clearing Center (NCC) and the National Settlement Depository (NSD).

The suspension of dollar and euro trading on the platform, which has been booming recently, takes effect on Thursday. MOEX reported a historic high in retail investor activity in February, with a total of 4.1 million people making transactions on the platform. Last month, total trading volume on the platform’s markets was 126.7 trillion rubles ($1.4 trillion), compared to 94.2 trillion ($1 trillion) in the same period a year ago. (RT/AT Network)

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