Russian Stock Market to have a Partial Reopening

Russian stock market is planning to have a partial reopening on Thursday nearly a month after it closed down following the invasion of Ukraine.

The challenge for Moscow is that resuming trading can send Russian stocks back into fall. Russia's major stock index fell 33% on February 24,  when President Vladimir Putin launched an attack on Ukraine. The index regained some of these losses on February 25 before Western sanctions hit the ruble and put the country in an economic crisis.

To limit the outcome, Moscow has resorted to strict policies. It prevented foreign investors from selling local stocks-given that the majority of the Russian market is owned by foreigners, some market participants are on the west side of assets by the Russian central bank. I saw it as a retaliation for the western freeze. The Russian government has ordered the sovereign wealth fund to buy billions of dollars worth of stock.

The Russian stock market can ultimately look very different than it was before, with a plan under discussion to split it into different markets for foreign and local investors.