Russian stock market remains relatively calm in November
The positive pass-through of the Bank of Russia's monetary policy easing was largely reversed in October; the situation in global markets was mostly unchanged. These are the findings of the latest issue of the Banking Sector Liquidity and Financial Markets commentary.
The structural liquidity surplus expanded, which was helped by a drop in the balances of banks’ correspondent accounts with the Bank of Russia. The impact of liquidity factors was close to neutral.
In November, short-term interbank lending rates held close to the Bank of Russia key rate. This was caused by the absence of a drag from expected changes in the key rate compared to several past months. Interest rates in the FX swap segment stayed close to interbank rates as the banking sector's foreign currency liquidity remained at a comfortable level.
In September, the cost of long-term borrowings grew slightly on the back of increased lending to higher-risk sectors. In October, mortgage rates touched their new all-time low. Activity in the retail segment of the lending market continued to decline, with the biggest contribution to the slowdown in the mortgage loan portfolio growth made by mortgage asset securitisation transactions.