Moscow Exchange
Russia's main stock exchange, whose index has fallen for 17 straight weeks.
Last refreshed: 19 July 2026
Russia's stock market just matched its worst run since the 1990s; who actually benefits from that?
Timeline for Moscow Exchange
Moscow posts surplus as shares sink
Russia-Ukraine War 2026Background
The Moscow Exchange's main index has fallen for 17 consecutive weeks, its longest unbroken losing streak since 1997, dropping back to the level it touched on the day of the February 2022 invasion. The analysis is Alexander Kolyandr's, published by the Center for European Policy Analysis on 16 July 2026; he treats it as a leading indicator of eroding confidence, distinct from the same week's budget figures showing a rare RUB 0.28tn monthly surplus in June.
The slide has not stopped retail money coming in: Russian households put RUB 910bn (about $11.7bn) into brokerage accounts in the first quarter of 2026, the most since 2021, taking equities to roughly 30% of retail portfolios. Kolyandr attributes the immediate trigger to a smaller-than-expected central bank rate cut in June, compounded by falling commodity prices, a rouble too strong for exporters, and Ukrainian strikes on fuel infrastructure.
Kolyandr's argument is that the drop paradoxically suits the Kremlin in the short term, since savings diverted from equities into bank deposits help fund state debt, but it undermines Vladimir Putin's stated goal of doubling market capitalisation to two-thirds of GDP by 2030 and starves Russia's technology self-sufficiency drive of investment capital.