Russia’s central bank said Thursday that it ordered brokers to stop allowing traders to, place bets against Russian shares, a practice known as short-selling.
Short sellers borrow stocks they believe are overvalued and immediately sell them, hoping to repurchase the shares for a lower price when they need to be returned and to pocket the difference. The MOEX, Russia’s benchmark stock index, crashed 45% Thursday.
Officials earlier had suspended trading on Moscow’s exchange before reopening it at 10 a.m. local time.