The Western sanctions against Russia are affecting the stock exchanges, but there is no sell-off. Bank shares are among the biggest losers worldwide. Arms and energy companies are on the up.
The alertness of the Russian nuclear forces and the fear of the economic consequences of stricter Western sanctions against Russia hit Europe’s stock exchanges on Monday, but did not cause panic. Investors have not yet given up hope of a negotiated solution. At the same time, the prospect of western rearmament helped domestic armaments companies to record price jumps. the dax stabilized somewhat at the close and went down 0.7 percent at 14,461 points. The leading index had previously lost more than three percent. Analyst Jochen Stanzl from online broker CMC Markets said. “EU sanctions are balanced to maximize pressure on Russia and minimize damage to the West.” Among other things, some Russian banks were excluded from the Swift international payment system and funds from the Russian central bank were frozen. The Moscow stock market remained closed for the time being. The European banking index slipped by 5.5 percent. Among the biggest losers here were institutes with a large Russian business. The shares of the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank fell by 15 percent. The papers of the HVB mother Unicredit listed 9.5 percent weaker. “The exclusion of Russian banks from international payment transactions means that these financial institutions can no longer settle their liabilities to their European creditors,” said Thomas Gitzel, economist at VP Bank. In Germany, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank lost 5.2 and 7.3 percent, respectively.
Discussions about energy security amid fears of a Russian gas freeze prompted investors to grab energy stocks. In the Dax, RWE’s shares rose by 3.7 percent, those of Siemens Energy by 10.3 percent. SMA Solar gained 19.5 percent in the S-Dax.
On Wall Street it closed Dow Jones 0.5 percent down at 33,893 points. As in Europe, shares in defense companies were among the winners. Lockheed Martin shares rose 6.7 percent. By contrast, bank stocks also came under pressure in the USA.