The official morning trading session of Moscow Exchange, which was supposed to start at 7 am Moscow time, was cancelled. Trading in the foreign exchange and money market on Monday, 28 February, opened at 10 am Moscow time (9 am Kyiv time).
According to Radio Svoboda, the relevance of opening trading in other markets will be estimated by the Bank of Russia “depending on the situation”.
During the morning session, the dollar exchange rate on the Moscow Exchange grew from 83 rubles (trading closed at this level on Friday 25 February) to 90 rubles — the new historical low, as reported by RBC group.
The Euro grew from 93 rubles to 101 rubles. After that, trading practically stopped since both the dollar and euro got to their upper boundaries.
Earlier, the Forex dollar exchange rate had reached 106.5 rubles, and euro — 118.9 rubles.
According to the Bank of Russia, the national currency of RF broke the weakening record amid sanctions due to the attack on Ukraine, which the EU has already imposed. The USA and other countries of G7 announced their plans to impose sanctions, too. They decided to prohibit any operations with the reserves and assets of securities.
These plans were first made public in the common statement made by the leaders of the EU: France, Germany, Italy, and the UK, on 26 February late at night. In the night between 27 and 28 February, the EU prohibited all operations related to managing the reserves and assets of the Bank of Russia. Authorised transactions in securities which are necessary for ensuring the financial stability of the EU in general or its states may be an exception.
On 27 February, the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell announced that Western countries will block about half of “financial reserves” of the Bank of Russia. He didn’t mention the exact amount. As estimated by experts, the West may block at least 240-250bn dollars of financial assets of the Russian regulator. As at 1 February, the Bank of Russia currency reserves were 498bn dollars (630bn including gold).