Moscow suspends stock trading until March 5

Russia's central bank sent scrambling as ruble plummets

Russia's central bank has shut down the country's stock exchange for the week as the ruble plummets amid mounting sanctions imposed by other nations over Russian President Vladmir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

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Moscow Exchange

The Moscow Exchange building in Moscow on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022. (Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The Bank of Russia announced early Monday that the Moscow Exchange would not open some sections of the market for the day in light of the "current situation," before sending a second alert saying trading would be entirely suspended until March 5.

Russian-related exchange-traded funds took a hit on Monday. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
RUSL NO DATA AVAILABLE - - -
RSX NO DATA AVAILABLE - - -
ERUS NO DATA AVAILABLE - - -

The decision comes as the central bank scrambles to try and mitigate steep, coordinated economic sanctions imposed by several other countries, including the U.S., and as the ruble hit a new record low versus the dollar.

Bank of Russia

A Russian flag flies above the headquarters of Bank Rossii, Russia's central bank, in Moscow on Monday, Feb. 28, 2022. (Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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The Bank of Russia also signaled it would resume buying gold on Monday, and raised its key interest rate to 20%, up from 9.5%, in an effort to fight the depreciation of the ruble and higher inflation.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
GLD SPDR GOLD SHARES TRUST - USD ACC 245.59 +2.10 +0.86%

NATO allies and other nations have taken action to inflict economic pain on Russia as Putin continues his bloody assault on Ukraine. Select Russian banks are set to be removed from the SWIFT international banking network by the European Union, and the Bank of Russia has also been targeted directly with sanctions from the Biden administration.

Vladimir Putin Russia

President Vladimir Putin speaks to the media at the Kremlin in Moscow on Feb. 22, 2022. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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A senior White House official told FOX Business on Monday, "Our strategy is to make sure that the Russian economy goes backward as long as President Putin decides to go forward with his campaign."

FOX Business' Ronn Blitzer and Paul Conner contributed to this report.