Prices on the stock market in Moscow, which have fallen for three days owing to alarm about strains in banking and liquidity in Turkey, fell again sharply on Thursday in what dealers described as "panic" selling.
The main RTS stock index was showing a loss of 6.3 percent soon after mid day to 150.90 points, or more than 10 points below the previous lowest point this year.
On Tuesday the index had fallen by nearly 4.0 percent and on Wednesday by 2.5 percent.
"We are in rather a state of panic. World markets don't look good and investors are leaving emerging markets for more liquid and safer instruments," said one dealer.
Another dealer said: "The Turkish banking crisis has blotted out all the good news from Russia. The general feeling is one of deep pessimism."
But the United Financial Group said that the macro-economic performance of Russia remained strong. "The Russian economy should not be affected by the problems in Turkey or in Argentina, and the current reaction of investors to bad news seems to be excessive." – MOSCOW (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
