MOSCOW: Russian aluminum giant Rusal saw its share price halved on the Hong Kong stock exchange Monday after Washington placed it under sanctions, putting the metals major at risk of defaulting on part of its debt.
As the Hong Kong stock market closed at 0800 GMT, the company’s share price had tumbled 50 percent to HK$2.34.
The fall represented a loss of more than €3.5 billion for the company, which is headed by billionaire Oleg Deripaska, and which accounts for some seven percent of the world’s aluminum production.
The collapse came after US President Donald Trump on Friday announced sanctions against Russian oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin following the diplomatic crisis sparked by the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal.
Washington has accused Deripaska of operating for the Russian government. Other magnates hit by sanctions include Alexei Miller, director of state-owned energy giant Gazprom.
Senior US officials described the measures as being aimed at Putin’s “inner circle” and said any assets held by the businessmen in areas under US jurisdiction would be frozen.
In a statement, Rusal said the sanctions “may result in technical defaults in relation to certain credit obligations of the group.”
More broadly, the latest wave of sanctions also saw the Russian stock market index RTS dive 4.94 percent and the MOEX index plunge 3.94 percent as of 0900 GMT.
Russia’s currency also took a hit, with the dollar and euro rising to 58.82 and 72.24 against the rouble respectively.
In all, Trump’s administration targeted seven oligarchs, 12 companies they own or control, 17 senior Russian officials and a state-owned arms export company.
The sanctions follow weeks of tit-for-tat diplomatic measures between Russia and Western states following the poisoning of a Russia former double agent in Britain last month.
The US said however that Friday’s action was taken under a law passed to punish Russia for its alleged bid to interfere in the 2016 US presidential vote, as well as its intervention in conflicts in Syria and Ukraine.
Moscow has vowed a “tough response” to the sanctions.
Aluminium giant Rusal share price halved after US sanctions
Updated 09 April 2018
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Aluminium giant Rusal share price halved after US sanctions
Updated 42 min 1 sec ago
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Algerian PM says economy to improve in 2018 as energy exports recover
- Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said Algeria’s economy will improve this year
- Revenue from Algeria’s oil and natural gas exports picks up
ALGIERS: Algeria’s economy will improve this year, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said on Saturday, as revenue from the OPEC member’s oil and natural gas exports picks up after falling by half since 2014.
“2017 has been a difficult year, but 2018 will be much better,” Ouyahia told reporters, adding that unemployment had risen to 11.7 percent last year.
Oil and natural gas exports increased 25 percent to $7.1 billion in the first two months of 2018, up from $5.67 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to official data.
Algeria is a major gas supplier to Europe and relies heavily on revenue from energy exports. They account for 95 percent of its total exports and 60 percent of the state budget.
Ouyahia also confirmed he will not run in next year’s presidential election as speculation grows that veteran President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 81, will seek a fifth term.
Bouteflika, in office sine 1999, has largely disappeared from public view since a stroke in 2013.
“We can only be proud if the president decides to run,” Ouyahia said.
In a possible sign that authorities are paving the way for a fifth term, Ouyahia — leader of the pro-government National Rally for Democracy (RND) party — said a campaign will be launched to showcase the president’s achievements.
“It is important ... to show where the $1,000 billion (in energy revenues) were spent during four terms,” Ouyahia said.
Bouteflika can also count on the support of the ruling party FLN, and thousands of former fighters who have accepted a partial amnesty offer to lay down arms ending civil war with extremists in the 1990s.
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