Russian natural-gas giant Gazprom, oil-producer Lukoil and leading bank Sberbank are all penny stocks based on their trading on the London Stock Exchange, as the local market was shut for a third day.
Sberbank
SBER,
-78.43%,
which had assets of over $500 billion at the end of 2021, was trading for 3 cents a share in afternoon action. The European Commission on Wednesday approved the resolution plan for its Croatian and Slovenian arms that will be sold. Its Austrian and Czech operations will be wound down, with depositors compensated up to €100,000.
Lukoil
LKOD,
-93.23%,
Gazprom
OGZD,
-23.50%,
and Rosneft Oil
ROSN,
-77.71%
continued to collapse as the dollar-denominated secondary listings in London remained the one venue where Russia’s top companies could be valued.
The collapse of the energy giants came even as Western sanctions specifically exempted the Russian energy sector. But traders have taken matters in their own hands, with very little demand for Russian-sourced oil. According to Standard & Poor’s, the discount for Russian Urals crude to Brent was over $18 per barrel on Tuesday.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued for a seventh day, as the two sides said they were ready to hold another round of negotiations.
Meanwhile, natural-gas prices exploded in Europe. The ICE UK natural-gas contract
GWM00,
+38.29%
shot up by 37%. With crude also soaring, Shell
SHEL,
+4.95%
and BP
BP,
+4.84%
shares each rose by 5%, leading the FTSE 100
UKX,
+1.36%
higher in midday trade. Evraz
EVR,
-41.66%,
the U.K.-listed Russian steelmaker that is going to get demoted out of the FTSE 100 later this month, slumped 13% to extend this year’s losses to 74%.
The yield on the 10-year gilt
TMBMKGB-10Y,
1.262%
bounced back by 10 basis points to 1.20%, after a historic drop on Tuesday.
