By Edward Hugh: Barcelonabr /br /Russia's foreign-exchange reserves have been now been declining very rapidly since mid August, and as the money goes so does the faith that the large stock of reserves the country built up during the boom times would be sufficient to see them through any downturn in energy prices. As the money leaves, so it seems does the decade of economic growth and stability which they symbolised. Indeed so rapid has been the decline that Russia's international reserves, which are the third-biggest after those of China and Japan, have now fallen $161 billion, or 27% percent, since 8 August last, and decreased by $17.9 billion to $437 billion in the week to 5 December. Investors have now pulled $211 billion out of the country since August, according to estimates by BNP Paribas.br /br /br /pa href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SUbQptNe4tI/AAAAAAAALyE/K0xlBOy3AlA/s1600-h/russia+GDP.png"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280137028067844818" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: ...

While U.S. financial turmoil has seeped into virtually every global market, Russia has been devastated, as the country’s largest stock exchanges, the MICEX and RTS, have suffered their biggest losses since the 1998 financial crisis. However, Moscow only has itself to blame after heavy-handed economic, political, and military tactics scared away the foreign investments it didn’t oust directly. Regulators suspended trading on both the MICEX and RTS for the second day in a row yesterday (Wednesday), after the nation’s two biggest exchanges suffered their worst losses in nearly a decade. The benchmark MICEX index tumbled 10% yesterday morning, extending a three-day decline that’s eradicated 25% of its value. The index plunged 17.5% Tuesday, its worst one-day decline since 1998. The dollar-denominated RTS index was down more than 8% when trading halted yesterday, after dropping 11.5% the day prior. The RTS has ...

While U.S. financial turmoil has seeped into virtually every global market, Russia has been devastated, as the country’s largest stock exchanges, the MICEX and RTS, have suffered their biggest losses since the 1998 financial crisis. However, Moscow only has itself to blame after heavy-handed economic, political, and military tactics scared away the foreign investments it didn’t oust directly. Regulators suspended trading on both the MICEX and RTS for the second day in a row yesterday (Wednesday), after the nation’s two biggest exchanges suffered their worst losses in nearly a decade. The benchmark MICEX index tumbled 10% yesterday morning, extending a three-day decline that’s eradicated 25% of its value. The index plunged 17.5% Tuesday, its worst one-day decline since 1998. The dollar-denominated RTS index was down more than 8% when trading halted yesterday, after dropping 11.5% the day prior. The RTS has ...