European exchanges have halted trading on several Russia ETFs as the ongoing market disruption created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine deepens.
Effective 4 March, Euronext, Borsa Italiana and Deutsche Boerse suspended trading on several ETFs until further notice.
Borsa Italiana announced it had suspended trading on four ETFs, the iShares MSCI Russia ADR/GDR UCITS ETF (CSRU), the Xtrackers MSCI Russia Capped Swap UCITS ETF (XMRC), the HSBC MSCI Russia Capped UCITS ETF (HRUB) and the Lyxor MSCI Russia UCITS ETF (RUSE)
Euronext also suspended trading on CSRU, as well as the Invesco RDX UCITS ETF (RDXS) and the iShares MSCI Eastern Europe Capped UCITS ETF (IEER).
Furthermore, Deutsche Boerse halted trading on the XMRC, HRUB, CSRU, RUSE and the Lyxor PEA Russie (MSCI Russia IMI Select GDR) UCITS ETF (PRUS).
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) also confirmed it would be suspending several Russia ETFs late on Friday, including IEER, CSRU, HRUB, XMRD, RUSE and RUSL.
In a statement BlackRock said it “strongly supports” the decision by the exchanges.
“Due to CSRU’s and IEER’s concentrated exposure to Russian equities, the closure of the Russian stock market and MSCI’s decision to remove Russian securities from its emerging markets indices, BlackRock strongly supports the decisions by the exchanges on these ETFs,” it said.
Amundi added: “Following the suspension of the listing by Euronext, Borsa Italiana and Deutsche Borse of all ETFs on Russia, as well as the suspension of the underlying securities of their indices, Amundi decided, in order to protect the interests of investors, to suspend subscriptions and redemptions as well as the fund valuation from 4 March and for an indefinite period of time.”
SIX exchange told ETF Stream none of the ETFs fall under the current sanctions.
A Deutsche Boerse spokesperson said: “After reviewing the current market situation, we have also suspended ETFs with a predominance of Russian stocks from trading to protect investors.
“We are monitoring developments very closely and will check whether further measures are necessary. To this end, we are in close exchange with the product providers.”
The move follows a flurry of suspensions in the past week which saw all Russian ETFs stop creation and redemption trading of the ETFs as liquidity vanished in the Russian market.
The Russian equity market was labelled “uninvestable” by the world’s largest index provider MSCI following the shuttering of the Moscow Stock Exchange on Monday while the Russian Central Bank has also barred foreign investors from selling their assets.
Related articles
