Russian Stock Market and Ruble Post Gains in Response to New Round of Sanctions
One day after the announcement of new U.S. and EU sanctions on July 29, the Russian Micex share index (based on the 50 most traded large Russian companies) closed up 0.9% and the ruble gained against the dollar for the first time in five days. This development was attributed to market relief over the lack of severity of the sanctions, the fact that they left Russia‘s gas industry untouched, the exemption granted to EU subsidiaries of Russian banks and the absence of Sberbank (with more than 19,000 branches) from the capital markets sanctions imposed by both the U.S. and the EU. There was also some market relief expressed that the sanctions did not affect the existing holdings of debt or equity for the affected Russian companies and banks.