The Moscow Exchange index (IMOEX) closed down 4.23% on June 22, settling at 2,318.28 points — its steepest single-day drop since September 26, 2022, the Russian business outlet RBC reported.
The hardest-hit stocks were VK (-8.9%), Rosneft (-8.7%), and Aeroflot (-8.1%), the independent Russian investigative outlet Agentstvo said.
Freedom Finance Global analyst Natalya Milchakova pointed to several factors behind the selloff. One was the Russian Central Bank’s decision to cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points rather than the expected 50 — a move that, in her view, the market read as a sign of economic trouble ahead. Geopolitical risks and expectations of rising fuel prices also pushed the index lower, she added.
Yaroslav Kabakov, director of strategy at Finam, also cited geopolitical risks and said the Moscow Exchange index could fall to 2,000 points.
Russian markets are likely to fall further as escalation deepens and drags on — driven by money market mechanisms and interest rate pressure rather than news events, Kabakov said. Some participants — seemingly with better access to information — had already begun selling Russian assets ahead of the rest, he said, adding that conditions echoed those of late 2021 and early 2022.
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