Markets fall; trading suspended on Russia's MICEX

Russian stocks dropped Monday on declining world oil prices and new struggles for control of the world's largest nickel miner, prompting regulators to suspend trading on one of the country's two exchanges.

The ruble-denominated MICEX was down 5 percent when trading was halted just after 3 p.m. (1100 GMT). The other exchange, the RTS, was down 6 percent.

Trading had resumed Monday for the first time since regulators halted operations on Friday after a seesaw week.

Sergey Karykhalin, chief analyst at Moscow-based investment bank Kapital, said the market was reacting Monday to oil prices, which hovered US$80 a barrel Monday.

He said …