After almost one month of suspension, shares in Moscow climbed, with the benchmark MOEX Russia Index rising as much as 12 per cent. While only 33 stocks resumed trading, Russians with fortunes linked to them added $8.3 billion combined, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index tracking the wealthiest 500 people in the world.
Scores of Russian billionaires got sanctioned by the EU and the UK after the Kremlin started its war against Ukraine. But for the 10 tycoons whose shares resumed trading, the advances were adding to their paper gains. Vladimir Potanin, Leonid Mikhelson and Gennady Timchenko each grew their fortunes by more than $1 billion on Thursday. Before the trading halt, the 23 tycoons part of the world’s 500 richest people had more than $316 billion of combined wealth.
Russia’s credit risk surges on renewed fears of debt default
The cost of insuring Russian debt surged on Thursday after President Vladimir Putin demanded ruble payments from “unfriendly” nations for gas purchases.
Credit-default swaps protecting $10 million of the government’s bonds for five years were quoted at about $6.4 million upfront and $100,000 annually, according to ICE Data Services. That implies an 87 per cent probability of default, compared with about 60 per cent at the end of last week. Swaps prices soared after Putin’s announcement renewed investor concerns about the stability of Russian supplies and its ability to service foreign debt amid its war in Ukraine. Russia’s insistence on ruble payments could trigger disputes and contract negotiations, threatening to disrupt the smooth flow of Russia’s gas, on which Europe is heavily dependent.
Russia committed war crimes in Ukraine: US
Russian military forces, have committed war crimes in Ukraine by hitting civilian targets and have unleashed unrelenting violence that has caused death and destruction across the war-torn country, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. On February 24, Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine, three days after Moscow recognised Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk as independent entities. “Our assessment is based on a careful review of available information from public and intelligence sources,” he said.
War may erase 15 yrs of Russia economic growth
Russia is set to erase 15 years of economic gains by the end of 2023 after its invasion of Ukraine spurred a multitude of sanctions and prompted companies to pull out of the country, according to the Institute of International Finance. The economy is expected to contract 15 per cent in 2022, followed by a decline of 3 per cent in 2023, leaving gross domestic product where it was about fifteen years ago.
China quietly buying cheap Russian crude
China’s oil refiners are discreetly purchasing cheap Russian crude as the nation’s supply continues to seep into the market. Unlike India’s state-run oil refiners, which have issued a number of tenders seeking to buy Russia’s Urals crude among other grades, traders say China’s state processors are negotiating privately under the radar with sellers. The nation’s independent refiners are also quietly buying, according to sources.
To read the full story, Subscribe Now at just Rs 249 a month