Russia stocks fall to 4-yr low ahead of Crimea ref

Share prices in Russia’s top bourses plunged to a four-year low at the weekend as jittery investors dumped their holdings ahead of a referendum in Crimea over its bid to break away from Ukraine and join Russia. Moscow’s two main indices MICEX and RTS opened down, but losses accelerated to more than 5.0 percent by midday to levels unseen since mid-2009. The later recovered, with the MICEX closing down 0.89 percent, while the RTS finished 1.43 percent lower. Russian currency ruble fell against major currencies on Friday, touching 51.07 against the euro from the previous day’s 50.77. It slid to 36.65 rubles to the dollar from 36.60. The ruble’s approached a record low against the euro set last week, when the Russian financial markets panicked after President Vladimir Putin secured parliamentary approval for military intervention in Crimea. On March 3, which has been dubbed “Black Monday” in Moscow, the euro reached a peak value of 51.20 rubles and the dollar rose to 37 rubles, breaking a record set during the economic crisis of 2009. Analysts from Alfa-Bank said investors were getting rid of their Russian holdings before the Crimea vote on Sunday, fearful of economic consequences after the West warned of sanctions, according to AFP.