(Reuters) -Russian stocks dropped on Friday in their second day of trading after a nearly month-long suspension, with losses led by airline Aeroflot, which has lost more than a quarter of its value over two days.
The benchmark MOEX stock index was down 2.9% at 2,506.2 points by 0856 GMT, having hit a peak of 2,761.17 points on Thursday, when it closed 4.4% higher.
The dollar-denominated RTS index fell 3.2% to 828.2 points.
Prior to Thursday, stocks had not traded on Moscow’s bourse since Feb. 25, the day after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent thousands of troops into neighbouring Ukraine, prompting Western sanctions aimed at isolating Russia economically and then Russian countermeasures.
On Friday, more securities, including corporate bonds and Eurobonds were being traded, though restrictions remain on trading by foreigners alongside a ban on short selling.
Commodity stocks had led Thursday’s rebound with double-digit growth, but almost all securities lost ground on Friday.
The biggest loser was airline Aeroflot which dropped about 13%, adding to Thursday’s 16% loss.
State lenders Sberbank and VTB also fell 3.5% and 7.7% respectively.
Oil major Rosneft was an exception, gaining 0.5%, while Lukoil lost 3.5%.
ROUBLE GAINS
The response to events in Ukraine have ripped Russian financial markets from global networks and sent the rouble tumbling.
On Friday, the currency slipped 0.2% against the dollar in Moscow trade to 97, reversing earlier gains.
On Wednesday, it hit its strongest level in three weeks at 94.9875 after Putin said Russia would start selling its gas to “unfriendly” countries in roubles.
In offshore markets, the rouble weakened to about 98 to the dollar.
The central bank on Friday said restrictions imposed on capital flows were a tit-for-tat move after its reserves were frozen by Western countries.
“In response to the freezing of part of Russia’s reserves, Russia also introduced restrictions on the movement of funds that could be transferred to unfriendly countries by a comparable amount,” the central bank said.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Jason Neely, Robert Birsel)