MOSCOW, Aug 21 (Reuters) - The Moscow Interbank Currency
Exchange (MICEX) council said it would discuss on Friday terms
for resuming rouble/dollar currency futures operations, a MICEX
spokesman said.
"A decision on how to solve the situation, setting up trade
parameters, fulfilment of payments on previous deals -- they
will be discussed," MICEX spokesman Vadim Yegorov told Reuters.
He said the council would discuss the possibility of
imposing a force majeure on deals struck on Monday.
On Monday morning, the government announced a de facto
rouble devaluation, a planned restructuring of domestic debt and
imposed a 90-day repayment moratorium on repayment of some
foreign debts.
Futures trading on MICEX on Monday started at 1130 a.m.
(0730 GMT), 45 minutes later than usual, and lasted about an
hour, Yegorov said.
MICEX decided to start trading because it did not have a
full text of the official government and central bank
announcement of the new policy.
"The situation was not quite clear," Yegorov said.
Yegorov declined to name the volume of futures contracts
struck on Monday.
MICEX suspended futures trading and froze all contracts as
of Monday's close.
On Friday the council will also discuss what guarantees will
need to be provided for the right to work at the exchange. The
guarantees previously consisted of roubles and treasury bills in
equal proportions. T-bills stopped trading on Monday.
A MICEX official has said the exchange was considering
accepting only roubles as security. The rouble fell to 7.0050 to
the dollar on Friday from 6.3100 last Friday.
The futures market is mainly used by foreigners to hedge
their investment in domestic government securities.
((Julie Tolkacheva, Moscow Newsroom, +7095 941-8520
moscow.newsroom@reuters.com))
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