MOSCOW, October 8 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian stock exchanges MICEX and RTS suspended trading from 11:05 a.m. Moscow time (07:05 GMT) after their indexes plunged shortly after opening, spokesmen for the exchanges reported on Wednesday.
The ruble-denominated MICEX suspended trading until Friday, or a decision by the financial markets' regulator, after its index dropped 14.35% against Tuesday's close to 637.87 points, while an 11.51% plunge to 759.40 saw the dollar-denominated RTS halt dealing for an hour.
The RTS later announced it would only resume trading upon instructions from the Russian financial markets' regulator.
The Russian stock exchanges suffered major losses on Monday as MICEX, the country's main index, closed down 18.6% after being closed three times, and the benchmark RTS plunged 19.1% after trading was suspended twice on the back of falling oil prices and persisting concerns about the global economic slump.
On Tuesday, MICEX and RTS saw minor drops in stock prices despite a pledge by President Dmitry Medvedev to grant banks an extra 950 billion rubles ($36 billion) in credit for periods of at least five years to tackle the financial crisis.
