The share prices of the Russian giants taking a nosedive
14:48
The Moscow Stock Exchange will not open on Monday. However, several Russian companies are also listed abroad. On the London Stock Exchange, investors are selling Russian securities. The prices of such companies as Gazprom, Novatek (gas producers), Rosneft, Lukoil (fuel companies) fell at the opening by 40-70 percent. In later trading hours, some of them only slightly decreased the scale of losses. The Russian ruble also lost around 30 percent of its value on Monday.
There are probably two reasons for the sharp sell-off in Russian stocks. First, it is simply fear of a significant worsening of their situation as a result of the economic downturn in Russia. This is the goal of the EU, the US, and other countries that impose very serious restrictions on Russia, the Russian capital, and foreign exchange reserves. The second reason can probably be called "moral" – investors, including the big ones, such as the Norwegian pension fund, after Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine, do not want to have anything to do with Russian companies – often closely related to Putin's regime.
The weekend package of EU, US, and other sanctions provides for, inter alia, the cut-off of some Russian banks from the SWIFT system or the paralysis of the assets of the Russian central bank in euros and dollars. On Thursday, the United States also cut off the largest Russian banks from dollar transactions.
