Russian market battered as global markets wilt

"Russian markets have been caught up in the global selloff which has seen the Dow Jones close 4.3% lower overnight with the FTSE 100 in London down 3.4%. In Moscow, the MICEX was 3% lower at 11.00 AM after opening 4% down.

Friday trade has seen Asian markets continue to slide with Australia down more than 4%, Hong Kong down 4.7% and Tokyo down 3.6% with concerns over the global economy ranging from Eurozone sovereign debt fears, to weak U.S. growth figures, to inflation in China dogging investors who have seen sentiment reverse since spring.

In Moscow the MICEX has opened 4% down after taking a 2.1% hit on Thursday.Brent Crude is holding at around $107/bbl, with the WTI price in the saturated U.S. market falling further to $85.56/bbl at the close of U.S. trade – its lowest in 5 weeks.Most industrial metals are lower with gold trading at $1660/oz and beyond as far vas an all time high of $1684.90/oz.

The nerves weighing on investors globally after the U.S. debt ceiling negotiations of last weekend, were frayed further with ECB President Jean Claude Trichet revising his outlook for the Eurozone economy at the same time as European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called for a deepening of the Eurozone bailout mechanism, adding he had ‘deep concerns’ about Italy and Spain.The comments reverberated through Euro markets in Thursday trade and set the scene for heavy falls in the U.S. overnight."

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