Russian markets are likely to open lower on Friday amid a negative global background, while investors eye the results of the EU leaders’ videoconference.
Russian trades finished deep in the red on Thursday amid negative news from Europe, with the European Central bank saying it would temporarily stop lending to some Greek banks. The RTS dropped 4.13% and the MICEX shed 3.54%.European stocks also ended on the wrong side of the ledger on Thursday, amid warning from Moody’s rating agency that it would downgrade the Spanish banking sector. Worries about Greece also weighed down the indices, with the Stoxx Europe 600 and Spain’s IBEX 35 both ending lower by 1.1%. The French CAC 40 and the German DAX 30 both dropped 1.2%.US stocks followed the trend as negative data of manufacturing in the Philadelphia region added to worries about Europe. The Dow Jones shed 1.2% and the S&P 500 dropped 1.5% to a four-month low. JP Morgan Chase shares fell 4.3% after reports that the bank’s operating loss had widened from $2 billion to more than $3 billion during the last four trading sessions.Asian stock investors dumped shares Friday amid renewed concerns about Spanish banking added to existing worries about deposit outflow from Greek lenders. Meanwhile Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 2.56%, South Korea’s Kopsi dropped 2.7%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.7%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.33%, and the Shanghai Composite lost 1 %.