Russia’s MOEX to Resume Early Morning FX, Evening Stock Trading in September

This is part of moves by the exchange to return to normalcy following the disruptions Russia’s war on Ukraine caused across markets in the exchange.

The exchange had suspended stock trading on its platform for three weeks in the days following the launch of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

MOEX noted that the early morning forex market will be opened for trading in currencies and derivatives while shares on the Moscow Exchange index will be traded in the stock market, Reuters reports.

While Russia’s main trading hour starts at 07:00 and ends at 16:00 GMT, early morning trading kicks off at 03:50 GMT while the evening session starts at 16:00 GMT.

Finance Magnates reported that the exchange's forex market relapsed in July after trading volume dropped 3% to RUB 17.3 trillion.

According to Reuters, in addition to relaunching the early morning trading session, the top Russian exchange also plans to increase the trading hours of Chinese yuan before this year runs out.

This is even as the war has left Russia increasingly dependent on China to soften the impact of Western sanctions and limited access to dollars and euros.

Heat of War

With the war on Ukraine still ongoing, the Moscow Exchange despite its best efforts is still feeling the heat of the war.

On Monday, the exchange announced that from August 29th, it will halt the use of US dollar as collateral for underwriting transactions.

Earlier in the month, the exchange reduced the use of the US dollar as collateral from 25% to 50%.

In July, the exchange announced a planned suspension of trading in Japanese yen on its currency market effective from August 8.

MOEX had cited potential risks and difficulties in Japanese yen settlement as the factor behind the decision.

Also, in its second quarter results for 2022, MOEX reported a drop of more than 24% in its income from fees and commissions.