Russian investors are aggressively buying bonds

Over the past year, private investors in the Russian Federation have shifted their investment strategies and instruments.

Bonds began to receive much more investment from "physicists" than stocks.

The inflow of funds into debt market instruments was nine times greater than the inflow into equities.

Investors are turning to protective instruments more and more in times of crisis.

The amount of trading in stocks on the Russian market is much greater than that of bonds trading.

RBC reports that the net inflow of funds from private investors into bonds on the Moscow Exchange has amounted to 695 billion rubles in the last 12 months, according to the Exchange.

The net inflow of funds into shares over the same period was only 77 billion rubles, which is nine times less than before.

Gleb Shevelenkov, director of the debt market department of the Moscow Exchange, states that the volume of trading in shares on the Russian market is much greater due to the numerous transactions for the purchase and sale of assets.

Individual investors sent 585 billion rubles out of 695 billion to corporate bonds, and invested another 108 billion rubles in OFZ.

Beginning in February 2022, the use of bonds as a defensive investment began to increase, with 15% of private investors' net cash inflows being directed to the bond market, compared to before.

Clients with more expensive portfolios tend to invest in bonds, with private investors with portfolios of over 10 million rubles having 49% of their investments in bonds. On the other hand, those with smaller speculative portfolios of up to 100 thousand rubles have a majority of their investments in stocks.

At the end of 2022, the share of bonds in the portfolios of retail investors had risen from 25% to 30%, and by the end of the first quarter of 2023 this figure had further increased to 32%. The Bank of Russia noted the growing interest of individuals in bonds.