Gazprom, Lukoil and Sberbank are now penny stocks as Russian companies collapse in London

Lukoil LKOD, -95.83%, Gazprom OGZD, -85.64%, and Rosneft Oil ROSN, -64.70% continued to collapse as the dollar-denominated secondary listings in London remained the one venue where Russia’s top companies could be valued.

The collapse of the energy giants came even as Western sanctions specifically exempted the Russian energy sector. But traders have taken matters in their own hands, with very little demand for Russian-sourced oil. According to Standard & Poor’s, the discount for Russian Urals crude to Brent was over $18 per barrel on Tuesday.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued for a seventh day, as the two sides said they were ready to hold another round of negotiations.

Meanwhile, natural-gas prices exploded in Europe. The ICE UK natural-gas contract GWM00, +37.57% shot up by 37%. With crude also soaring, Shell SHEL, +5.07% and BP BP, +4.47% shares each rose by 5%, leading the FTSE 100 UKX, +0.52% higher in midday trade. Evraz EVR, -24.10%, the U.K.-listed Russian steelmaker that is going to get demoted out of the FTSE 100 later this month, slumped 13% to extend this year’s losses to 74%.

The yield on the 10-year gilt TMBMKGB-10Y, 1.208% bounced back by 10 basis points to 1.20%, after a historic drop on Tuesday.