Germany opposes Russian oil and gas ban Business

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The London Stock Exchange has implemented a trading block for 27 companies with close ties to Russia.

EN+, Gazprom, Lukoil, Rosneft and Sberbank are among the companies affected by the block, which takes effect immediately.

The London Stock Exchange Group said it was blocking trades in the companies “in light of market conditions and in order to maintain orderly markets”.

On Monday, Deutsche Borse halted trading in 16 Russia-linked companies, while the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq took similar action.

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What happened overnight

Oil prices rose on Thursday as war in Ukraine sparked a mad dash for resources in a worrying sign for global inflation, while Asian stocks gained after reassuring comments from the Federal Reserve helped Wall Street rebound.

Brent crude surged above $117 a barrel and is now up almost 20% on the week, while everything from coal to natural gas and aluminum is on fire as Western countries tighten sanctions on Russia.

The rush for commodities sent resource-rich Australian stocks up 0.9%, while Indonesia was just off a record high.

The Japanese Nikkei managed a 0.8pc gain, while MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside of Japan rose 0.6pc.

MSCI added to Russia’s financial isolation by deciding to exile the country from its emerging markets index, while FTSE Russell said Russia would be removed from all of its indexes.

Fitch cut Russia’s sovereign credit rating six notches to junk status, saying it was uncertain whether the country could service its debt, and Moody’s quickly followed suit.

After rebounding overnight, S&P 500 stock futures were flat, while Nasdaq futures were down 0.1pc.

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