Moscow's Micex Halts Trading for Two Days After Record Rout

By Torrey Clark and Alex Nicholson

Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Moscow's Micex Stock Exchange suspended trading for two days after shares plunged 14 percent in the first half hour, extending a record decline.

Trading stopped at 11:05 a.m. and won't resume until Oct. 10 unless the Federal Financial Markets Service says otherwise, Micex spokesman Alexei Gerasyuk said by phone. The smaller RTS bourse shut for one hour, until 12:05 p.m.

The 30-stock Micex Index slumped for a sixth day, to 637.87, the lowest level since June 2005. Russian regulators have halted stock trading 10 times since Sept. 16 amid the country's biggest financial crisis since the debt default and ruble devaluation of 1998.

``There is an absence of anyone with any inclination to buy,'' said James Beadle, an investment strategist at Pilgrim Asset Management in Moscow. ``With the stock market having collapsed so far, there is a genuine fear of default between counterparties.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Torrey Clark in Moscow at tclark8@bloomberg.net.