The Russian stock market collapsed after news and rumors of a new phase of the war in Ukraine. On Tuesday, September 20, the State Duma passed a number of wartime bills that toughen liability for violations during wartime or during «military operations»; the concepts of «mobilization,» «martial law,» and others were also included in the Criminal Code. These measures, coupled with the statements of the «LDNR» authorities about the referendums on joining Russia, were perceived by the stock market as a new phase of the war.
The Moscow Stock Exchange index at its peak plummeted 10.5%, later recovering half of the fall with a 5.37% decrease to 2,300 points by 4pm Moscow time for the first time since August 30. The top losers were Polymetal (-21.05%), Tinkoff (-15.27%), VK (ex-Mail.ru, -15.3%) and Yandex (-8.7%).
The biggest stock losers also included large oil and gas companies: Novatek (-8.4%), Gazprom (-5.8%), Rosneft (-5.28%) and others. It is noteworthy that the ruble exchange rate practically did not react to the new stock market collapse; on the contrary, it even increased, although foreign exchange had been following the general trend during the previous emotional stock market fluctuations.
The RMB was trading at 0.8599 rubles at the opening of the trading session and at about 0.8559 rubles at 16.00 in Moscow. The dollar was trading at RUB 60.3 at the beginning of trading, - and at RUB 60.16 in the middle of the day. The euro was traded at RUB 60.4 at the beginning of the day, and at RUB 60.05 in the middle of the day.