Russian Stock Market Resumes Trading after Two Day Halt

Moscow (AHN) - The Russian stock markets re-opened for trading on Friday after a near two day trading halt and finished more than 20 percent higher.

Friday's session on Russia's two exchanges, the RTS and MICEX, did not go off without a hitch. There were two trading halts during the day due to a sharp rise that breached technical limits.

The Russian government halted markets on Wednesday after their largest exchange, the MICEX, plummeted 25 percent in just over two days. Such a move has not been seen since Russia's financial collapse in 1998.

A main catalyst in the decline was the fleeing of foreign investors, which led to a short-term liquidity crisis. This left domestic investors uneasy and they began to exit the markets as well.

However, the halt prevented a panic in the market and gave the government ample time to react accordingly. In the end, $120 billion was supplied by the government in order to increase liquidity in the financial sector.

The MICEX rose 28.7 percent to 1098.9 and the RTS added 22.4 percent to 1295.9.

Standard and Poor's did adjust their credit rating on Russia long term debt to "stable" from "positive".

"Russia's fiscal and external buffers remain formidable, but are likely to suffer over the next 12 months as banks are re-capitalized and financial account net inflows decline or even reverse," said S&P in a report, according to the Associated Press.

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