Moscow Exchange to launch evening session for bond trading

Moscow Exchange plans to allow investors to trade on the Bond Market after 19:00 Moscow time beginning in the autumn. All Russian federal government bonds (OFZ) and Eurobonds traded on Moscow Exchange will be available for evening trading.

After-hours bond trading is expected to be primarily of interest to private investors, who are increasingly focused on the debt market. As of today, retail investors account for 15% of the trading volume on MOEX’s Bond Market.

Evening session liquidity will be supported by market makers.

At present, Moscow Exchange offers Russian and foreign shares, exchange-traded funds, currencies, precious metals, futures and options to trade during the evening session, which runs from 19:00 to 23:50 Moscow time.

Gleb Shevelenkov, Director of the Bond Market Department at Moscow Exchange, said:

"Bonds are an understandable and lower risk product for private investors entering the exchange market for the first time. Today, almost 13 million individuals have access to Moscow Exchange, with investments in bonds already totaling around RUB 1.5 trillion. Our goal is to provide them with the broadest possible opportunities to manage their securities portfolios."

The Moscow Exchange Bond Market offers OFZs, sub-federal, municipal, mortgage-backed and corporate bonds. The volume of outstanding bond issues has more than doubled over the past five years and now stands at RUB 32.6 trillion.