The military actions in the Ukraine are costing Russia big time. Vladimir Putin received approval internally to use military action, but the men who approved the action may have cost themselves serious money when it comes to their own wealth. Russia’s MICEX Index was down just over 11%, so you can imagine what is happening to its key ADRs and funds.
The drop is being exacerbated by international outflows from the Russian market. Remember the mantra in emerging markets investing: invest when there is blood in the streets. That may not be the case now as this situation is still developing.
Mobile Telesystems OJSC (NYSE: MBT) was down over 10% to $15.44, and the new 52-week trading range is $15.07 to $24.06. Even after the drop, it is worth more than $15 billion. Mobile TeleSystems offers mobile and fixed voice, broadband and cable TV in Russia, Eastern Europe and central Asia.
VimpelCom Ltd. (NASDAQ: VIP) is a key telecom provider with markets in Russia, Italy, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Armenia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Central African Republic, Burundi and Cambodia, as well as in Canada and Zimbabwe. Is shares were down more than 9% at $9.21, but a new 52-week low was hit Monday, and the adjusted 52-week range is $9.06 to $14.74.
Yandex N.V. (NASDAQ: YNDX) is considered to be the “Google of Russia” and it just signed a pact with Google last week. The internet search provider’s ADR was down 9.4% to $33.96, and its 52-week range is $19.93 to $45.42. Yandex is worth $11 billion in market cap.
Market Vectors Russia ETF (NYSEMKT: RSX) was down 8.6% to $22.31, and its new 52-week range (after hitting a low Monday) is now $22.16 to $30.25. Volume is approaching 1 million shares, and this ETF trades more than 4 million shares per day.
Templeton Russia and East European Fund Inc. (NYSE: TRF) is a closed-end fund under Mark Mobius and team, and it is perhaps the oldest investment fund for American investors to get into Russia. This mutual fund was down more than 7% at $12.72, and the new 52-week range is $12.65 to $15.71. Volume was much lighter as the ETFs took over.
Qiwi PLC (NASDAQ: QIWI) operates electronic online payment systems primarily in the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Belarus, Romania, the United States and the United Arab Emirates. Its ADR was down 9% to $42.25, against a 52-week range of $14.51 to $59.24. Qiwi’s market cap was more than $2.4 billion before this drop.
What is different in this situation in the Ukraine is that the conflict is contained so far to the Crimea, and it is taking place after what likely will be deemed by the history books as a mini civil war in Ukraine that led to an ouster of the pro-Russian government.
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