Russia takes steps against foreign investors to resume Moscow market

On Monday, Russia's central bank announced measures to prevent investors from friendly countries from taking advantage of plans to allow them to resume trading on the Moscow stock market.

After an almost six month hiatus, the Moscow Exchange said on Friday it would allow clients from friendly jurisdictions - or those that have not imposed sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine.

It said it would only apply to the main stock market, not the derivatives market, and did not say when the wider access would be permitted.

The delay was due to concerns that investors from the European Union, the United States and Britain, which are currently banned from trading in Moscow, could be able to use the resumption of trading by friendly nations to offload Russian stocks they still hold.

For six months, the central bank said it was blocking Russian depositories and registrars from executing transactions with securities received from foreign counterparts, including from friendly countries.

The regulator said that brokers offered the option to purchase securities from non-residents in foreign countries and then transfer the assets to a Russian depository - a move that it described as risky and with no guarantee of the financial result Western sanctions have severely restricted Russians' access to global stock markets, while countermeasures from Moscow have blocked most foreigners from buying and selling Russian shares.