Banks Stop Trading Russian Stocks

last updated on

Banks Stop Trading Russian Stocks

Banks Stop Trading Russian Stocks

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, several international investment banks including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, UBS, HSBC, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley have halted trading of Russian stocks.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 (Thursday) and a plunge of more than 30 percent was witnessed in the MOEX Russia Index, the benchmark of the Russian market, but rebounded about 20 percent on the next day. However, within the next couple of days, the Russian equity markets swung wildly.

Banks simultaneously in the United States, Canada, Europe and Britain said Saturday to be removing the Russian banks from the international payments system, the SWIFT. The French finance minister stated the ban would cause much damage to Russia and can be called a financial nuclear weapon.

European Union, Britain and the United States have ratcheted up sanctions against the country amid the continued assault of Russia against Ukraine.

With harsh sanctions imposed on Russia, the native currency rubble hits record low and it is down by 40 percent against the USD, reports Bloomberg. Russia has simultaneously banned the selling of its securities.

The latest news from various media reports presidents of both the countries have agreed to have a talk without any precondition and abreast of it the Russian nuclear forces are put on alert. Delegation of Russia and Ukraine is learned to be meeting on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. It follows a phone call talk between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Belarus president Aleksandr G Lukashenko.

The United Nations Security Council has called for a special emergency meeting and vote on a resolution to hold Russia accountable for UN charter violation.

The other updates in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war include the Russian Central Bank has increased the interest rate to 20 percent to keep a check on inflation and Ukraine had earlier lifted the weekend curfew in the capital city Kyiv. Ukraine claims the Russian army has suffered heavy losses and had slowed down the offensive pace.

According to General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, their single artillery fire has destroyed over five lines of Russian equipment and manpower as well and the troops are demoralized.

A statement released by Ukraine's Armed Forces claims the capital city Kyiv is under control and all the efforts of Russia to occupy it have failed.

Meanwhile, the Russian forces have carried out missile strikes overnight across Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr and Chernihiv. Air raid sirens were heard in many other places.

South Korea has announced stopping the further supply of strategic materials to Russia.

Trending Stories