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MOSCOW, March 9 (Reuters) - The total volume of funds held by Russian retail investors in brokerage accounts fell 28% year-on-year to 6 trillion roubles ($79.08 billion) last year, Russia's central bank said on Thursday. Russia has placed restrictions on certain trading in the wake of sanctions imposed over Moscow's actions in Ukraine, while many private investors have been unable to access funds.
"The freeze in foreign assets, declining equity indexes, and rising deposit rates cooled retail investor interest in the equity market last year," the central bank said. In quarterly terms, the amount of funds increased 15% in the final three months of the year.
Moscow Exchange , Russia's largest bourse, said the number of retail investors in February reached 24 million. The central bank said this rise was mainly technical, with clients transferring assets from sanctioned brokers to non-sanctioned brokers.
($1 = 75.8755 roubles) (Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Alexander Marrow Editing by Gareth Jones)
