RTS stock index falls below 1200 on news from Southeast Ukraine

The slide on Russian share prices has gathered pace on news from southeast Ukraine, where legislators in the Donetsk region have announced their intention to hold a referendum on the creation of a Donetsk People's Republic.

The RTS stock index was down nearly 3 percent by 2:34 p.m. Moscow time to below the 1200-mark. The MICEX stock index had fallen 2.23 percent to 1352.1.

Ruble-priced benchmark stocks were down 4 percent-6 percent on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX: MOEX) in some cases by 2:37 p.m., with drops of 6.1 percent for Federal Grid Company (FGC UES) (MOEX: FEES), 3.9 percent for Russian Grids (MOEX: RSTI) - 3.9 percent, 3.8 percent for Inter RAO UES (MOEX: IRAO), 3.6 percent for Gazprom (MOEX: GAZP) and 3.2 percent for Sberbank (MOEX: SBER)

Pro-Russian rallies held in Donetsk, Kharkiv>>>

Several thousand people gathered for a pro-Russian rally near the heavily guarded Donetsk regional administration headquarters on Sunday.

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