FX volume rises by 26% at Moscow Exchange
The Moscow Exchange, Russia’s largest exchange group, released its monthly batch of trading volumes and metrics for February 2023 – the latest readings showed a strong across the board for multiple segments, namely in the FX, given higher volatility.
In terms of the most recent figures, total on-exchange FX volume came in at RUB 19.4 trillion ($260 billion), down 20 percent from RUB 16.9 trillion ($235 billion) in January 2023. Compared with volumes from the prior year, this figure was down 44 percent when weighed against RUB 27 trillion in February 2022.
Average daily volumes reached RUB 1.019 trillion ($16.8 billion) last month, up 26 percent from RUB 805 billion ($11.2 billion) in January. Year-over-year, the ADV figure was also down 41 percent from RUB 1.72 trillion in February 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 56.8 trillion, up from RUB 54 trillion in January. Additionally, the figure was up by 41 percent when compared to the previous year.
Meanwhile, the CCP-cleared repo segment reached RUB 19.1 trillion, with the GCC repo segment volume of RUB 10.9 trillion (up 8 percent).
Turnover in precious metals (spot and swaps) was RUB 12.9 billion up from RUB 12.1 billion in January, of which RUB 12.4 billion (3.2 t) was gold and RUB 0.5 billion (4.5 t) was silver.
