A man walks past the Moscow stock exchange building in downtown Moscow on February 28, 2022.
Natalia Kolesnikova | Afp | beautiful pictures
Russian stocks rallied on Thursday, after markets partially reopened to limited trading following the longest closure since the fall of the Soviet Union.
The Moscow Exchange continues to trade on 33 Russian stocks, including some of its biggest names such as Gazprom and Sberbankfrom 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Moscow time (3 a.m. ET and 7 a.m. ET) after one Notice from the Central Bank of Russia on Wednesday.
However, short selling of shares will be prohibited and foreign investors will not be able to sell OFZ ruble stocks or bonds until April 1.
The Russian MOEX index has gained more than 10% in 20 minutes of trading.
Oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil up 20% and 16% respectively, while aluminum company Rusal also increased more than 14%. Norilsk Nickel is up more than 22%.
At the other end of the index, Russian Airlines Stocks Aeroflot initially fell more than 20%, but quickly reduced losses to trade at less than 6% shortly thereafter.
The country’s stock exchange has been closed since February 25 due to a widespread plunge in Russian assets following its invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing punitive international sanctions.
