- Russia is planning a partial reopen of its stock market on Thursday after being closed for nearly a month.
- The country will allow trading in just 33 stocks and will ban the practice of short-selling.
- Russia is also considering a plan that would split the stock market in two: one for local investors and another for foreign investors.
Nearly one month since Russia closed its stock market after it crashed following the country's invasion of Ukraine, a partial reopening of the Moscow stock exchange is due this week.
Russia will allow trading in 33 of its 50 stocks on Thursday, including gas names like Gazprom and Lukoil, but there will be restrictions in the types of trades that can be placed and who can trade them, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
In an effort to stem a further decline in its stock market, Russia will ban the practice of short-selling, which allows investors to profit if a stock moves lower. The country is also considering a plan to separate its stock market into two: one for foreign investors and another for local investors.
That means certain stocks that are allowed to resume trading could see divergent prices for locals and for foreigners, as the country again is trying to prevent a continued meltdown in its securities market.
The potential bifurcation of Russia's stock market could lead to continued price crashes for the foreign-only market, as investors like Vanguard and Fidelity seek to exit the country at whatever price they can get from a limited pool of buyers. But the exact opposite can happen for locals, as investors might be compelled to buy Russian stocks to help hedge against a surge in inflation.
Russian stocks tumbled more than 33% in Moscow when the country invaded Ukraine on February 24, and reclaimed just a fraction of those losses on its last day of trades on February 25.
While the Russian stock market was closed, certain Russian stocks continued to trade on the London Stock Exchange. Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, fell 99% to just a penny in London trades before the stock was halted indefinitely earlier this month.
And Russian ETFs listed outside Moscow collapsed too. VanEck's Russia ETF sank 63% after Russia closed its stock market, before trading was halted in the ETF on March 7.
The biggest fear for Russia's central bank is that a reopening of the stock market will lead to a continued sell-off and devaluation of the Russian ruble, especially since the market's closure didn't encapsulate tough economic sanctions implemented by Western countries. That would further send Russia's economy into a tailspin.
Those sanctions have helped grind Russia's economy to a halt, and has led to both soaring inflation and shortages for staple goods like sugar and cooking oil. But as Russia tries to regain a sense of economic normalcy in the aftermath of its invasion of Ukraine, the first step is to open the stock market.