FX volume continues on downward trend at Russia’s exchange

In terms of the most recent figures, total on-exchange FX volume came in at RUB 16.1 trillion ($250 billion), down 26 percent from RUB 22 trillion ($350 billion) in April 2022. Compared with volumes from the prior year, this figure was down 38 percent when weighed against RUB 26 trillion in May 2021.

Average daily volumes reached RUB 892 billion ($14.1 billion) last month, down from RUB 1.049 trillion ($16.75 billion) in April. Year-over-year, the ADV figure was also down 31 percent from RUB 1.3 trillion in May 2021.

Today’s report follows on the heels of a previous report over two months ago showing robust FX performance across MOEX, when it has resumed publishing its monthly operational metrics after a halt following the nation’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Part of this decline in FX turnover could be attributed to a stronger Ruble. Russia’s currency surged to multi-year highs against the US dollar as the country managed to pay back creditors and avoid a default. Although the numbers mask some ugly truths for the Russian economy, but ruble has gone from an all-time low in March to the world’s best performing currency this year.

Other business highlights show that Money Market turnover was RUB 55.4 trillion, down from RUB 60.4 trillion in April. However, the figure was up by two thirds when compared to the previous year. ADTV was RUB 3,075.0 billion (May 2021: RUB 1,709.1 billion). The CCP-cleared repo segment added 34.5% to reach RUB 26.7 trillion, including the GCC repo segment which increased by 83.8% to RUB 10.6 trillion.

Turnover in precious metals (spot and swaps) was RUB 4.1 billion (May 2021: RUB 21.2 billion), of which RUB 3.8 billion (1.0 t) was gold and RUB 0.2 billion (4.6 t) was silver.