The ruble fell to more than three weeks on Monday, wiping out gains earlier in a session with sharp changes, while Russian stock markets are “falling” as Western fears of a possible Moscow invasion of Ukraine overshadow hopes for a diplomatic solution.
The Kremlin announced today that there were no concrete plans for a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Joe Biden, but Dmitry Peshkov noted that a telephone call or meeting could be set at any time, offering a possible “way out” of the Ukrainian crisis.
However, Russian stock markets – which are strongly influenced by any news about Ukraine – are “falling”, as Britain has warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is very possible while reports of sporadic bombing continue.
Moscow, for its part, continues to deny plans to invade Ukraine.
In this climate, the ruble Until recently, it was down 1.5% against the dollar, at 78.45, the lowest level since January 27, falling from 76.1450 moving earlier today. At the same time, it loses 1.6% to 88.96 against the euro.
On the board, the MOEX index slipped 5.95% while the RTSI index fell 7.57%.
“The week begins again with an uncertainty on the geopolitical front,” BCS Global Markets was quoted as saying by Reuters, noting the possible Putin-Biden summit and the meeting between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov scheduled for February 24. “Hope dies hard, but the risk of conflict remains,” he said.
Despite Moscow’s repeated denials, its assets have been pressured by fears of a military conflict that would almost certainly trigger new sweeping Western sanctions against Moscow.
Washington has prepared an initial package of sanctions against Russia that includes banning US financial institutions from conducting transactions for major Russian banks, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
“Russian stocks remain under pressure amid increasingly worrying news from the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk,” said investment management company Aton.
Source: Capital
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