Monday it would close the Moscow Stock Exchange, the nation's largest trading group, until March 5 as it"assesses the feasibility" of reopening"depending on the development of the situation."
Though some 200 stocks didn't trade on the Moscow Stock Exchange Monday, a handful of Russia-focused exchange-traded funds, which track baskets of stocks in the country, still traded in the U.S.—with the VanEck Russia ETF and iShares MSCI Russia ETF, the two largest with about $1 billion and $350 million in assets, respectively, cratering about 25% apiece.
Without active trading in Russia, Harry Whitton, head of ETF sales trading at Old Mission Capital, told CNBC the prices are largely based on investor sentiment and stock futures, recalling that when Greece closed its markets during six weeks of economicSome of the largest stock holdings in the funds include oil giants Gazprom and Rosneft, as well as financial institution Sberbank, whose London-listed sharesWith hundreds of millions of dollars in market value wiped in the U.S.
Reuters on Monday the Russian market has become"uninvestable," arguing that removing the nation's listings from indexes was a"natural next step" if clients and investors can't transact in the market. growing international sanctions punishing Russia for its invasion of Ukraine have made the nation"increasingly uninvestable for global investors," as measures targeting the central bank's reserve assets have helped push the ruble down to record lows.