MOSCOW: Russian equities largely lost ground, with flag carrier Aeroflot a notable exception, recovering to gain 5% after touching its lowest since 2009 in early trade.
The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 1.9% lower at 2,436.0 points. The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.9% to 822.4 points.
The Russian government has promised to support Russian companies by buying their stocks with money channelled from the rainy-day National Wealth Fund.
As of Monday, Russia has not started spending the fund’s money on stocks purchases, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said, according to Interfax.
Trading in depositary receipts in Russia remained suspended. Finam brokerage said in a note that the stock market’s slide was continuing in the absence of any growth drivers.
Dominant lender Sberbank shed 3.9%, gas giant Gazprom fell 3.6% and oil major Rosneft slid 1.9%.
Yields on Russia’s benchmark 10-year OFZ treasury bonds were at 13.62%, down from last week’s record high of 19.74%, which is just below the central bank’s key interest rate, but still at levels last seen in March 2015.
Yields move inversely to prices. Russia has demonstrated that it can continue to service foreign currency debt in recent weeks, but that ability will be tested once more on Monday.
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