Stock prices continue to fall in Russia - 4 September, 2002

A decline in prices of most highly liquid shares continued at the openingof trade on the Russian stock market today. The rate of the decrease was1-1.5% on average. In the meantime, the market has taken negative foreignnews rather calmly. As it was reported earlier, a swift decline in priceshad resumed on the US stock market: the Dow Jones index fell by 4.10%, andNASDAQ was down 3.88%. The ISM business activity index for the industrialsector did not change in August compared to the July level and remained at50.5 points, whereas a rise to 51.8 points was expected. In analysts' view,this negative news has created prerequisites for a further decline inRussian share prices. At the same time one cannot rule out the possibilitythat the market will be unable to resist bad news for much longer and willsoon begin to 'catch up' with foreign markets..