INTERNATIONAL: Many of Moscow's residents said they were yet to feel the effects of sweeping Western sanctions against Russia for its invasion of neighboring Ukraine, but some were bracing for a grim economic downturn ahead.
The Russian rouble plunged 30% against the U.S. dollar on Monday and the central bank hiked its key rate to 20% from 9.5% and authorities told export-focused companies to sell foreign currency as the rouble tumbled to record lows. In an emergency move after the West imposed unprecedented sanctions on Moscow over the weekend. The rouble hit a low of 120 to the dollar on electronic currency trading platform EBS.
As western governments ratchet up sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow's emerging markets allies are exploring channels for trade and financing to continue.
The other members of the erstwhile BRICs group - Brazil, India, and China - are treading cautiously for fear of tripping on the sanctions, but the beginnings of a parallel financial system centered on Beijing are becoming detectable.
Many western companies severed their ties with Russia over the weekend, and others studied whether and how to do so, as President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine triggered sanctions and pressure to abandon business dealings.
The United States and Europe have banished big Russian banks from the main global payments system SWIFT and announced other measures to limit Moscow's use of a $640 billion war chest.
Chinese businesses and banks are now scrambling for ways to limit the impact of sanctions on their relations with Russia, with the settlement of transactions in yuan seen rising at the expense of the dollar. The western curbs, which aim to cut Russia out of the global financial system, could also deepen commercial links between Moscow and Beijing.
In India, as concerns mount over sustaining supplies of Russian fertilizer, government and banking sources say there is a plan to get Russian banks and companies to open rupee accounts with a few state-run banks for trade settlement as part of a barter system.
Trading on Moscow Exchange's stock and derivatives sections will remain close on Tuesday, the Russian central bank said on Monday, extending the suspension of trading amid a full-blown financial crisis triggered by Western sanctions.
The central bank said it will inform about future Moscow Exchange operations before 0600 GMT on Wednesday.
NYSE has temporarily halted trading in the stocks of Russia-based companies listed on their exchanges, their websites showed.
Russia's stock market is "uninvestable" after stringent new Western sanctions and central bank curbs on trading, making removal of Russian listings from indexes a "natural next step", a top executive at equity index provider MSCI said on Monday.
"It would not make a lot of sense for us to continue to include Russian securities if our clients and investors cannot transact in the market," Dimitris Melas, MSCI's head of index research and chair of the Index Policy Committee
