Hostage taking to have long-term negative impact on stock market

The stock market closed with RTS index dropping 2 percent and returning to 350 points owing to a hostage taking by terrorists in the downtown Moscow, analysts said. The stocks were largely sold by Russian market participants but there were no panic sentiments. Among the hardest-hit were stocks of YUKOS, whose financial results in the first half of this year fell short of market expectations. Weak results were also posted by Surgutneftegaz, Sibneft and Rostelecom. The uncertainty on the world markets was coupled with instability in Russia, which served as an additional signal to dump stocks, analysts pointed out. If the situation with the hostage taking clears up in the near future, the market may be expected to return to previous levels, otherwise this terrorist attack will have long-term negative consequences for the market, experts said.