Russian stock market, crushed by war, resumes trading

Its market capitalisation is a fraction of that of major Western or Asian markets.Foreign investment managers lost one reason to buy Russian stocks after MSCI Inc. declared the market to be uninvestable following the Feb. 24 invasion and removed it from global indexes.

The Russian stock market resumed limited trading Thursday under heavy restrictions almost one month after prices plunged and the market was shut down following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Trading of a limited number of stocks including energy giants Gazprom and Rosneft took place under curbs that are meant to prevent a repeat of the massive selloff that took place Feb. 24 in anticipation of Western economic sanctions. Foreigners cannot sell and traders are barred from short selling, or betting prices will fall.

The benchmark MOEX index gained 8% in the first minutes of trading.

The reopening of stock trading on the Moscow Exchange has little impact on investors outside Russia. Its market capitalisation is a fraction of that of major Western or Asian markets.

Foreign investment managers lost one reason to buy Russian stocks after MSCI Inc. declared the market to be "uninvestable" following the Feb. 24 invasion and removed it from global indexes.