The Moscow Stock Exchange today suffered the strongest decline since March 2020, or the month in which the alarm over the Covid pandemic exploded around the world, serving the geopolitical tensions between the West and Vladimir Putin’s Russia on the crisis Ukraine.
In the last few hours, rumors had circulated that had given hope for a meeting between American President Joe Biden and Putin, on the proposal of the French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
The markets then turned sharply downwards after the clarifications arrived from Moscow.
A spokesman for the Kremlin said, in fact, that there are no concrete plans for a summit on Ukraine. The satellite images also show that Russian forces are approaching the Ukrainian border further.
The directly affected stock exchange, namely that of Moscow, saw the benchmark MOEX Russia Index capitulate down to -8.6%, while the dollar-denominated RTS index fell by 10%, confirming its worst equity index. of the world in today’s session.
All the shares traded in the lists are in red, with sales that fell in particular on Gazprom and Sberbank, down by more than 8%.
The ruble lost more than 1% to 78.1375 against the US dollar, after it had strengthened in the previous hours up to + 1.5%. And bearish bets on the Russian currency have jumped to a record since February 2015, according to a Bloomberg article.
Eduard Basurin, head of the pro-Russian separatist militias of the Donetsk Republic, also said, according to reports from the Interfax news agency, that he needed new military, financial and moral aid from Moscow. Which, for his part, continues to deny that he intends to invade Ukraine.