Russian Stock Market to Stay Closed for a Fourth Day

Russia’s stock market will be largely closed for the fourth day in a row, the country’s central bank said, amid continuing financial turbulence sparked by the invasion of Ukraine.

With limited exceptions, neither stock nor derivatives trading will resume Thursday on the Moscow Exchange, the Bank of Russia said in a statement late Wednesday local time.

The extended market closure is one of a range of moves taken by the central bank, which has also more than doubled its benchmark interest rate, introduced capital controls and blocked coupon payments to foreign bondholders.

Influential index providers MSCI Inc. and FTSE Russell will both cut Russian equities from their benchmarks next week and S&P Dow Jones Indices is considering whether to do the same. MSCI said it had heard from investors and other market participants that “the Russian equity market is currently uninvestable.”