Russia’s rouble drops on US sanctions

Russia’s rouble experienced its biggest one-day fall for over two years yesterday and stocks in major Russian companies also slid, as investors reacted to a new round of US sanctions targeting some of Russia’s biggest tycoons.

The sanctions, announced on Friday, target officials and business people around President Vladimir Putin in an aggressive response to alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.

The impact of the new sanctions could threaten Russia’s fragile economic recovery, which was only just beginning to take hold after the first major wave of sanctions against Russia, introduced in response to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Russia’s currency plunged 3.39 per cent to its lowest level since November last year, trading at 60.24 to the dollar. That was its biggest percentage fall in a single day since January 2016. On equities markets, Russian aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska saw the share price of one of his companies halve and another drop 34 per cent after he joined six other so-called “oligarchs” sanctioned together with their businesses.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was down more than 11 per cent, and the rouble-based MOEX Russian index fell by more than 9 per cent, their lowest levels since September and November respectively.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was watching events on the markets closely but that an assessment of the impact of the sanctions would take time.

“The situation is pretty egregious from the point of view of legality, it tramples on all kinds of norms, and so a thorough analysis is necessary,” Mr Peskov said. United Company Rusal, at the heart of Deripaska’s global aluminum empire, saw its share price fall over 50 per cent yesterday.

Rusal said in a statement the impact of sanctions could trigger technical defaults on some of its debts. Its dollar-denominated bonds yesterday fell hard on default fears, while its Moscow-listed shares tumbled 17 per cent.

“Rusal will probably have to be bailed out by Russian state banks,” analysts at TS Lombard wrote, adding that Deripaska may also be forced to sell his stake in Norilsk Nickel, losing a drawn-out battle for control of the metals giant with Vladimir Potanin.