Index giant S&P Dow Jones Indexes said Friday it is removing all stocks listed and/or registered in Russia from its stock benchmarks amid foreign policy developments, CNBC reported.
These changes will take effect before the stock market opens next Wednesday. This also applies to Russian-American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), according to the S&P Dow Jones Indexes.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500, the settlement operator, also said it will remove Russian issuers from its Emerging Markets base and classify them as a separate group.
Earlier on Friday, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) halted trading in three Russian ETFs – the Franklin FTSE Russia ETF (FLRU), the iShares MSCI Russia ETF (ESV) and the Direxion Daily Russia Bull 2X Shares (RUSL).
Exchange-traded funds tracking Russian equities have been in a deep doldrums since the escalation of geopolitical tensions. The iShares MSCI Russia ETF collapsed 33.4% on Tuesday, which was the worst day since the fund’s inception in 2010, and that followed a 27.9% drop on Monday.
VanEck Russia ETF shares ended February down 54.9%, posting their worst month ever.
