Russian markets avoid Trump slump

[MOSCOW] Russian markets largely resisted a global tumble on Wednesday as Donald Trump emerged as the surprise winner in the US presidential election, bolstered by hopes he may ease biting Western sanctions against Moscow.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.6 per cent at 0800 GMT, while ruble-denominated Micex dipped by 0.4 per cent. The exchange's website was working intermittently.

The Russian ruble was trading flat at 63.91 against the US dollar and slightly down at 71.55 against the euro.

"Russia is perhaps the most obvious perceived (emerging market) beneficiary of President Trump - with the hope that he might ease sanctions on Russia in 2017," said analyst with RenCap's global chief economist Charles Robertson, who titled his morning comment "President Trump -making Russia great again." Trump has said emphatically during the campaign that he is willing to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin, even praising him as a superior leader to outgoing US President Barack Obama.

Moscow is suffering from a protracted recession exacerbated by Western sanctions imposed for its meddling in Ukraine and a global decrease in price of oil, Russia's key commodity.

AFP