MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Russian rouble slid further in Moscow trade on Thursday after ratings agencies Fitch and Moody’s downgraded Russia to “junk” status, citing the impact of Western sanctions.
At 0732 GMT, the rouble was 0.9% weaker against the dollar at 107.05 and had lost 2.3% against the euro to trade at 118.00 on the Moscow Exchange.
Russia’s financial markets have been thrown into turmoil by sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.
Since Russian troops entered Ukraine on Feb. 24 the rouble is down more than 20% against the dollar.
Trading on the Moscow Exchange’s stock section remained largely closed on Thursday, a fourth day of restrictions ordered by the central bank.
Overnight Fitch said that U.S. and European Union sanctions prohibiting any transactions with the Bank of Russia would have a “much larger impact on Russia’s credit fundamentals than any previous sanctions”. Moody’s said the severity of the sanctions “have gone beyond Moody’s initial expectations and will have material credit implications”.
S&P lowered Russia’s rating to sub-investment grade last week.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions imposed in response have led to dire warnings about the Russian economy, with the Institute of International Finance predicting a double-digit contraction in growth this year.
On Wednesday index providers FTSE Russell and MSCI said they would remove Russian equities from all their indexes, after a top MSCI executive earlier this week called Russia’s stock market “uninvestable”.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
