An employee looks at the chart of the stock price index, showing the decline in stock prices on an electronic information screen at the headquarters of the Moscow Stock Exchange Micex-RTS.
Andrey Rudakov Bloomberg | Getty Images
Index giant S&P Dow Jones Indices said on Friday it was removing all stocks registered and / or established in Russia from its benchmarks in light of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, further isolating the nation from the global economy.
The repeal, which took effect before opening next Wednesday, also affects Russia’s US Depositary Receipts (ADR), S&P Dow Jones Indices reported.
The company, which maintains the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500, also said it would declassify Russia as an emerging market and categorize it as a stand-alone group.
The move came as Russian forces attacked Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine early Friday morning, causing a fire at a nearby training facility. The US Embassy in Kyiv called the attack a war crime.
Earlier on Friday, the NYSE halted trading in three Russian ETFs – the Franklin FTSE Russia ETF (FLRU), the iShares MSCI Russia ETF (ERUS) and the Direxion Daily Russia Bull 2X Shares (RUSL). The exchange cites “regulatory concerns” about these stops.
Exchange-traded funds tracking Russian stocks are stalled as geopolitical tensions escalate. The iShares MSCI Russia ETF fell 33.4% on Tuesday’s worst day since the fund’s inception in 2010 and after a loss of 27.9% on Monday.
Meanwhile, shares of VanEck Russia ETF ended February down 54.9%, closing the worst month so far.