Russian Stocks Increase as Trading Resumes

The government declared on March 1 it would channel up to 1 trillion roubles ($10.5 billion) from its rainy-day National Wealth Fund (NWF) to purchasing Russian stocks disturbed by a massive sell-off last month.

Nevertheless, it was unclear if they already spent money. The finance ministry did not respond directly to a comment request.

The markets are slowly reopening after President Vladimir Putin sent his forces into neighboring Ukraine four weeks ago, leading to comprehensive sanctions imposed by Western capitals and countermeasures taken by Moscow.

Those measures have noticed Russia’s financial markets severed from the global financial network and dropped its currency.

Energy Companies Rising

Energy firms appreciated some stellar gains with companies such as gas producer Novatek, oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil, and gas giant Gazprom (MCX: GAZP) up 10-20%.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, is poised near $121 per barrel, up some 13% since the beginning of the week as concerns over supply disruptions from the Russia Ukraine crisis have increased oil prices. [O/R]

Shares in mining giant Nornickel also achieved 10%.

Nevertheless, shares in Russia’s second-largest lender, VTB, were down around 5%, subject to Western sanctions. And with most European airspace shut to Russian planes, flagship carrier Aeroflot sank almost 20% before cutting its failures to 16%.

Russia continued trading OFZ treasury bonds on Monday, with the central bank supporting to stabilize papers with interventions, the amount of which it has not yet announced.

Yields of benchmark 10-year OFZ bonds, which move inversely to their prices, stood at 13.65% behind, hitting 19.74% on Monday.