Russian stock market closes for one hour following morning tumble
(Interfax, dd/11.11.2008, godz. 11:49)
Russia's two main stock exchanges were forced to shut down for one hour on Tuesday afternoon after the market opened with a sharp decline in response to trends on global markets and falling oil prices.
As of 12:30 p.m. Moscow time, the market's main blue chips were down by roughly 4%-15%. The RTS index was down 8.47% to 743.77 points, while the MICEX stock index was off 9.07% to 674.28.
Trading on the MICEX was suspended at 11:05 a.m. after the technical index fell by more than 5%. RTS trading was suspended at 12:35 p.m.
Sberbank (RTS: SBER) stock is down 14.4% on the RTS, Rosneft (RTS: ROSN) - 15.2%, Surgutneftegas (RTS: SNGS) - 11.4% and Gazprom (RTS: GAZP) - 11.1%.
On the MICEX, Gazprom Neft (RTS: SIBN) stock is down 10.1%, MMC Norilsk Nickel (RTS: GMKN) - 9.3%, Sberbank - 9.5%, Surgutneftegas - 9.4%, Gazprom - 9.1%, VTB Bank (RTS: VTBR) - 6.7%, Rosneft - 9.2%, Tatneft (RTS: TATN) - 8.3% and Polyus Gold (RTS: PLZL) - 8.4%.
UralKali (RTS: URKA) shares continue to tumble in second-tier trading, plunging 24% following a 25% decline on Monday and a more than 10% drop on Friday. The company's stock is falling because the government said the company may be fully liable for a reported 16.7 billion rubles in damages resulting from an accident at a mine in Berezniki in 2006.
Other second-tier stock on the decline includes Sollers - down 11.3% and NOVATEK (RTS: NVTK) - down 10.8%.
Moscow Unified Electricity Grid Company (MOESK) (RTS: MSRS) stock is up 5.9%, DEK - 2.7% and Lenenergo (RTS: LSNG) - 17.2%.
RTS Classic Market trading volume stood at $2.404 million as of 12:30 p.m., and MICEX volume was 5.5 billion rubles, led by Gazprom with 2 billion rubles.
