Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name:Abramov Alexander Author-Name-First: Alexander Author-Name-Last:Abramov Author-Workplace-Name: RANEPA Title: Financial Markets and Financial Institutions in Russia in 2017 Abstract: In 2017, the Russian stock market once again reaffirmed its reputation of being one of the most volatile in the world. In contrast to the situation in 2016, when Russia's stock market, in terms of its rates of return, set a world record among the other 36 stock markets included in the analysis, in 2017 it joined the group of outsiders. Over that year, the RTS Index gained only 0.1 percent vs. 52.3 percent in 2016, and the MICEX Index (MOEX Russia Index)[1] at year-end demonstrated a negative rate of return of 5.5 percent, while over the previous year it had gained 26.8 percent (Fig. 1). The different movement patterns of the two Russian indexes with the same issuer portfolio can be explained by the higher rate of return of the RTS Index (which is denominated in foreign currencies) relative to the (ruble-denominated) MOEX Russia Index that it displays in response to the weakening USD-to-RUB exchange rate. Classification-JEL: G01, G12, G18, G21, G24, G28, G32, G33 Keywords: Russian economy, stock market, share market, bond market, derivatives market Creation-Date: 2018 Revision-Date:2018 Length: 64 pages File-URL: https://www.iep.ru/files/RePEc/gai/ppaper/ppaper-2018-305.pdf File-Format: application/pdf File-Function: Revised version, 2018 Handle: RePEc:gai:ppaper:ppaper-2018-305