Yahoo Autos Russia shuts its stock market for a 3rd day as its government readies $10 billion to buy up plunging assets
Russia's central bank closed the country's stock market for a third day, as it tried to limit panic selling.
The country's war in Ukraine and ensuing Western sanctions have put huge pressure on the financial system.
Russia has ordered its sovereign wealth fund to release $10 billion to prop up the stock market once it reopens.
Russia's central bank ordered the Moscow stock exchange to stay closed for a third day Wednesday as the country's sovereign wealth fund prepared $10 billion to try to limit a plunge in assets.
The Bank of Russia said it would decide whether to reopen trading before 9 a.m. local time Thursday. The three-day closure is the longest since 1998, according to Bloomberg, a year in which a financial crisis rocked the country.
Russia's economy has come under severe strain after President Vladimir Putin gave the order to invade Ukraine last week and Western governments imposed sanctions in response.
The stock market plunged as much as 50% when the invasion started, but has been shuttered since the close on Friday, when it stood 35% lower for the year. The Russian ruble has crashed to a record low and investors have dumped the country's bonds.
Alongside untold human misery in Ukraine, the conflict has unleashed economic warfare between Russia and the West. The US and its allies have cut select Russian banks out of a key global payments messaging system and have prevented the central bank from accessing much of its stockpile of foreign currency reserves.
