During this partial resumption of quotations, with only around thirty shares available, the Moex index, denominated in rubles, opened up 10% before returning to +4.4% at 11:00 GMT, while the RTS index, denominated in dollars, opened down 4% before widening its losses to -9% at 1100 GMT.

On February 24, the day Russian troops entered Ukraine, the stock market plummeted by more than 30% and nearly $190 billion evaporated in one day.

She had decided on February 25 to suspend most of her activities.

After a month of closure for fear of a stock market cataclysm, the longest observed to date, the Moscow Stock Exchange began a gradual reopening on Monday with the resumption, to begin with, of exchanges of government bonds.

On Thursday, the shares of 33 groups were listed, including those of big companies under sanctions, such as the country's biggest banks, Sberbank and VTB.

The authorities have stepped up measures to ensure that the recovery on Thursday is not too harsh, waiting for a favorable situation for raw materials, allocating 10 billion dollars to buy Russian stocks and prohibiting operations by foreigners at first.

-'return to the USSR'-

Blue Bay Asset analyst Timothy Ash observes that Russian authorities have led a "concerted effort to stabilize markets and ease the sense of panic that accompanied the market meltdown after the shock of the initial extreme sanctions".

According to him, this reopening is only a “facade”, “the sanctions proving to be really painful”.

"Russian financial markets may stabilize in the short term, awaiting the next sanctions, but few foreigners will want to invest in Russia, because Putin has turned Russia into toxic waste," he continues.

For Russia "this means less capital inflows, more elite capital flight, higher borrowing costs, lower investment, lower growth, higher prices, higher unemployment and a lower standard of living with huge brain drain".

Elina Ribakova, deputy chief economist of the International Institute of Finance (IIF), for her part noted that the indicators no longer reflect reality, she affirmed that it was a "return to the USSR" .

"No short selling and no orders from foreign investors are allowed. Pseudo-markets in foreign currencies, stocks... will be followed by pseudo-reports on inflation and unemployment," he said. she commented on Twitter.

The only positive point, this partial reopening should allow Russians who still have cash to invest in what is one of the only ramparts currently available against galloping inflation and the collapse of the rouble.

"Using the market as a long-term investment is the right thing to do," said AFP Mikhail Ganeline, an analyst at Aton, saying that "markets recover sooner or later, sooner or later some kind of political stabilization will come".

“There are not many savings opportunities now, the stock market is one of the good tools for saving,” he advises.

-'masquerade'-

Unprecedented Western sanctions have hit the Russian economy hard since late February.

The national currency broke historical records of weakness and the central bank, deprived of about half of its international reserves, more than doubled its key rate to 20%.

Severe currency restrictions have been introduced as the list of foreign companies announcing their withdrawal from Russia continues to grow.

The first rushes on certain food products have been observed.

The authorities try to reassure them, assuring that Russia will overcome the difficulties.

"What we are witnessing is a masquerade: a Potemkin market opening," White House deputy national security adviser Daleep Singh said in a statement Thursday.

"This is not a real market or a sustainable model, which only underscores Russia's isolation," the US official added.

"The United States and our allies and partners will continue to take steps to further isolate Russia from the international economic order," Singh said.

© 2022 AFP