Russian toy-store launches $1 billion IPO in first Moscow float of the year

nvestors start to warm to Russia

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Shares in Russia’s top children’s goods retailer PAO Detsky Mir are set to start trading on the Moscow bourse on Friday, valuing the company at around a billion dollars in the country’s first big initial public offering since 2014 and the latest sign of renewed investor confidence in the sanctions-hit economy.
Detsky Mir said on Wednesday that the stock sale is priced at 85 rubles ($1.4) a share, valuing the company at around 62.8 billion rubles USDRUB, -0.1126%  .
The IPO is the first on the Moscow Stock Exchange this year and could prepare the ground for more listings after a fallow period following the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the crisis in Ukraine, which led to the U.S. and other western countries imposing sanctions on Moscow.
The collapse in the value of the ruble after sanctions were imposed and the slump in oil prices in the past two years have also weighed heavily on Russia’s economy. Detsky Mir had postponed its IPO a number of times.

In going ahead with the stock listing this week, the Russian retailer is taking advantage of the strong rebound in the Russian stock market. As the ruble strengthened last year, and with oil prices regaining some lost ground, Moscow’s dollar-denominated RTS Index rose 52%, making it one of the best-performing markets globally. The RTS is up 69% in the past 12 months.

Bitcoin price soars past $1,060 as political worries intensify

The implicit acceptance of bitcoin by Chinese authorities has also helped shore up the price

The price of a single bitcoin on Tuesday touched its highest level in more than a month as populists in the U.S. and Europe threaten the established political order, increasing the appeal of alternative investments like cryptocurrencies, market strategists said.

The price touched $1,060 US:BTCUSD  on Tuesday, according to Coin Market Cap. That’s its highest level since Jan. 4, when bitcoin traded as high as $1,100, its highest level in more than three years.
Previously, the currency’s valuation languished in 2015 and 2014 after the collapse of popular bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox effectively ended a speculative bubble that saw the price of a single coin climb to an all-time high around $1,2050 in late 2013.

Bitcoin weakened sharply in January after Chinese authorities announced they would investigate the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges to ensure compliance with local laws. Initially, investors feared this could signal a shift to a more aggressive approach by Chinese regulators who had previously left the cryptocurrency world more or less along.