Limited Russian stock market trading to resume on March 24, central bank says

Shafaq News/ The Russian central bank said on Wednesday some stock market trading would resume on Thursday after a near month-long hiatus, with 33 securities set to be traded on the Moscow Exchange for a limited period of time and with short selling banned.

Trading in blue chips, including state lenders Sberbank and VTB and energy majors Rosneft and Gazprom, will take place between 0650 and 1100 GMT, the central bank said.

Russian stocks last traded on the Moscow Exchange on Feb. 25. The central bank then curbed trading as Western sanctions over events in Ukraine threw markets into turmoil.

Trading of OFZ government bonds restarted on Monday, with the central buying OFZ papers in an effort to limit volatility. The return of equities trading has taken longer as the bank seeks ways to clear a backlog of transactions while avoiding a market collapse.

Trading on the derivatives market with contracts on Moscow Exchange and individual shares, included on the Moscow Exchange index, will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (0700 to 1100 GMT) in the usual format, the central bank said.

It said the trading regime for subsequent days would be announced at a later date.