Russian exchanges surge on stop-start day, as global central banks continue to act

Russia’s RTS and Micex exchanges have opened for trade on Thursday after receiving clearance from the Federal Financial Markets service. Both have moved sharply higher in morning trade, with the RTS up 12%, and the Micex up 15% before a further trading ha

The reopening of Russia’s exchanges came after the coordinated interest rate cuts of 0.5% by major global central banks on Wednesday.  Thursday has also seen the bank of Japan announce it is adding more than $40 Billion in short term liquidity to money markets in its biggest ever one day injection.

Overnight in the U.S. the Dow closed lower despite the action by central banks of the US., U.K., the ECB, and Bank of Canada, as well as similar announcements by the Central Banks of Sweden, the UAE and China.  Thursday has seen the Central Banks of Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan follow suit with further rate cuts.

Early trade in Europe sees the FTSE 100 higher after the unveiling of a £500 Billion range of measures which includes action to rebuild bank balance sheets, and measures to inject liquidity to money markets, along with government underwriting of short term lending.  The Dax in Frankfurt and CaC in Paris are also moving higher in early trade.