Trading suspended on Russia's MICEX after 15 percent plunge
6 October 2008, 12:57
Trading was halted on MICEX at 1:35 p.m. (0935GMT) for one hour Monday. Shares fell by 15.4 percent to 781.8 points.
The benchmark RTS index fell by 13.9 percent to 921.7 points, but continued to trade.
Mining firm Norilsk Nickel fell by 25 percent on the MICEX. State-backed lender Sberbank by 16 percent and state-controlled oil major Rosneft by 17.4 percent.
In September, growing financial turmoil in the United States and tumbling oil prices sent the Russian stock markets into their biggest downward spiral since 1998. The MICEX lost 25 percent in just three days.
Regulators have shut down the markets on several occasions in an effort to stem the decline, often to positive effect.
The government has also offered financial support to the stock markets, and a raft of relief measures to the banking sector, where liquidity is tight and confidence between banks at rock-bottom, leading to a seizure of interbank lending activity.
The measures offered only short-term support to the stock markets, however, and buyers are still scarce on the market. Between July and mid-September, UralSib analysts estimate investors have pulled out more than US$50 billion from the country.
After trading closed for the weekend in Russia, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a US$700 billion bailout plan at the second attempt. But it provided little relief to investors, who are focused on deepening financial woes in Europe that threaten to derail global growth.
The bailout "does not look set to bring much immediate relief to suffering markets," Russia's Alfa Bank in a note to investors. "With investors transfixed by the events in the U.S., buyers are scarce, and Russian markets are lurching downward on a day-by-day basis."
Banking stocks were among the worst hit in Russia. State-controlled Sberbank, the country's largest lender, which at one point had plummeted 20 percent in early trading, shed 15 percent on MICEX, while the state-backed VTB banking concern also shed 15 percent. Mining firm Norilsk Nickel plunged by 31.4 percent on the RTS.
Of all major global indexes, the Russian stock markets have been among the worst performers.
The RTS is down 62 percent from its May peak.