MOSCOW (AFP) — Russia's two leading stock markets suspended trading on Wednesday as stocks continued to fall sharply amid global market turmoil.
Trading was halted on the dollar-denominated RTS on the orders of a government agency after falling 6.39 percent in the first two hours. The index has lost 57 percent since hitting an all-time high in May.
"Trading was stopped at 12:10 pm (0810 GMT) on the orders of the Federal Service for the Financial Markets," an RTS spokesman said. "We do not know when trading will resume, this is not our decision."
The financial sector was the worst hit, led by state-controlled retail banking giant Sberbank which plummeted 17.33 percent on the RTS.
The ruble-denominated Micex also suspended trading after a fall of 3.09 percent, a spokeswoman said.
On Monday trade on the RTS was halted an hour early after a fall of 11.47 percent. The Micex on Monday lost 17.45 percent despite trade also being halted for an hour.
Analysts said the fall was due to turmoil on Wall Street in the wake of the Lehman Brothers investment bank collapse, a massive US government bailout of insurance giant AIG and a dramatic fall in the oil price.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said Russia could withstand financial turmoil and said 13.7 billion dollars (9.6 billion euros) would be pumped into the financial markets by the central bank and finance ministry.
Before the latest wave of turmoil on Wall Street, investors were selling Russian stocks because of falling commodity prices, turmoil in international markets and political uncertainty, analysts said.
Increasing tensions with the West stoked by Moscow's military intervention in Georgia last month also hit prices -- the RTS has fallen more than a third since the conflict began.
President Dmitry Medvedev estimated last week that a quarter of the market's losses were due to the war, in part reflecting fears a stand-off with the West would hurt business.
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