By Alun John

HONG KONG (Reuters – Hong Kong shares OK Rusal of Russia’s aluminium producer fell Thursday before a partial reopening in stock trading on the Moscow Exchange late in the day.

Russian stocks were last traded on Moscow Exchange in February 25th, after which trading was stopped by the central banks due to Western sanctions imposed on markets for events in Ukraine.

The MOEX Russian Index, which is based on roubles, had experienced 20% growth after falling 33% earlier in the day, to its lowest level since the beginning of 2016.

Following the western sanctions that were imposed to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine a month ago (which Moscow considers a special operation), most major U.S. and Asian bourses have stopped trading Russian stock and other exchange-traded items.

Rusal’s shares trade between HK$4.04 & HK$4.17 each on Thursday. The stock’s trading volume surged during March after it fell from a peak intraday of HK$9.2 a piece on February 17.

According to Russia’s central bank, short selling is prohibited and trading will be restricted in Russia between 0650 GMT and 1100 GMT on Thursday.

Non-Russian residents cannot sell stocks or OFZ ruble treasury bond securities. On Monday, trading resumed.

Due to very low volumes offshore, the rouble fell a bit on Thursday. On Thursday the dollar climbed 1.55%, reaching 98 roubles/dollar.

On Wednesday, the Russian ruble traded offshore closed at 97.7375 dollars per dollar. This is its highest closing price since March 2.

As President Joe Biden, from the USA arrived in Brussels for the NATO and G7 meetings as well as the European Union meeting, fighting in Ukraine continued.