MOSCOW, October 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's leading stock exchange RTS finished trading on Thursday with its index showing big losses on negative news from global stock markets.
The benchmark RTS index closed at 713.90 points, or 9.52% down from Wednesday, falling close to the psychologically important level of 700 points.
The losses were led by crude producer Tatneft (down 30.23%) and state-controlled lender VTB (down 17.86%), while retail savings bank Sberbank shed 10.04%, energy giant Gazprom 11.32% and LUKoil, the country's largest independent crude producer, lost 16.23%.
The ruble-denominated MICEX closed at 626.85 points, down 9.11% on Wednesday's close. The bourses suspended trading for an hour Thursday after their indexes plummeted more than 5%.
MICEX and RTS indices have lost over 60% of their value since their high-points in May this year.
