FX volume drops 16pct at Russia’s largest exchange in January
The Moscow Exchange, Russia’s largest exchange group, released its monthly batch of trading volumes and metrics for January 2023 – the latest readings showed a pullback across the board for multiple segments, namely in the FX, given lower volatility and a reduced trading schedule.
In terms of the most recent figures, total on-exchange FX volume came in at RUB 16.9 trillion ($235 billion), down 20 percent from RUB 21 trillion in December 2022. Compared with volumes from the prior year, this figure was down 37 percent when weighed against RUB 27 trillion in January 2022.
Average daily volumes reached RUB 805 billion ($11.2 billion) last month, down -15.7 percent from RUB 955 billion in December. Year-over-year, the ADV figure was also down 38 percent from RUB 1.28 trillion in January 2022.
Today’s report follows on the heels of a previous report over the last few months showing mixed FX performance across MOEX, when it has resumed publishing its monthly operational metrics after a halt following the nation’s invasion of Ukraine.
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 one of the world’s best performing currency last year.
Other business highlights show that Money Market turnover was RUB 54 trillion, down 15 percent from RUB 63.4 trillion in December. Additionally, the figure was up by 43 percent when compared to the previous year.
Meanwhile, the CCP-cleared repo segment reached RUB 20.5 trillion, with the GCC repo segment volume of RUB 10.3 trillion (up 8 percent).
Turnover in precious metals (spot and swaps) was RUB 12.1 billion (December 2022: RUB 19 billion), of which RUB 11.7 billion (3.2 t ) was gold and RUB 0.4 billion (4.5 t) was silver.
