MOSCOW, March 5 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian stock market plunged on Monday's opening after the MICEX index dived 4.97%, to 1,512.18 points.

The Russian Trading System (RTS) index sagged 2.24%, to 1,755.73 points.

Global stock markets continued their slide from last week, when a plunge in Chinese shares prompted a fall on Wall Street and other trading floors. Experts said the Russian stock market will continue its downward movement.

The MICEX index, a benchmark indicator of the Russian stock market, tumbled 5.29%, to 1,507.13 points, by 11:00 a.m. Moscow time (8:00 a.m. GMT), and the RTS index was down 3.56%, to 1,731.88 points.

Almost all of Russia's blue chips extended losses in the first minutes of trading Monday. Energy giant Gazprom shed 5.75% in the RTS and 6.2% on the MICEX, electricity monopoly Unified Energy Systems (UES) lost 5.9% and 5.4%, respectively, the stock of state-controlled oil company Rosneft tumbled 3.49% in the RTS and 4% on the MICEX, and the shares of state retail savings bank Sberbank were down 3.11% and 3.56%, respectively.

The Russian stock market is affected by worries of a possible global slowdown as demonstrated by falling indexes in developing economies, especially in the Asian region, Russian experts said.