On Friday, September, 5, Russia’s stock market capitulated. “We opened the market with the drop of 2%, then it fell to 9%, and then grew to – 4%”, as the top-trader of Troika Dialog Timur Nasardinov says. By 15.00 Moscow time, the RTS index updated the minimum since the end of June, 2006, and fell to 1407 points, but it grew to 1469 points (-3,8%) at the closing. The total capitalization of Russia’s public companies went by 3% down, to $1,086 trln.

Within the last two months, the price of oil went by 27,3% down. Thus, one more problem joined the core troubles of Russia’s investors after the war conflict in Georgia – the severe depreciation of the key Russian treasure. If this process doesn’t stop, Russia’s stock market will continue falling.

Russia’s Rostelecom and Japan’s KDDI launch a new communication system, the Russia-Japan Cable Network, that will lay under the Sea of Japan along the Nakhodka-Naotcu route. According to the calculations of the analysts, the total volume of investments in the project reached $50 million. The construction will be conducted pari passu

Russia’s managing companies will get a new tool permitting them to get an additional income for the stockholders. The Federal Financial Markets Service (FFMS) intends to permit the managers signing repo agreements using the assets of the investment funds. Since the beginning of the year, the mutual funds’ losses reached 21% on average. So, according to the experts, the FFMS’s innovation will help them to compensate these losses

The Russian experts are looking for the positive aspects of Russia’s little chances to enter the WTO (World Trade Organization) in the nearest future taking to account the military conflict in Georgia.

Russia and its partners in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) intend to launch joint projects in agriculture, high technologies, energy and in the social sphere.

Russia’s metallurgical companies are taking much interest in the metal service business, thus, their ambitions are not restricted to Russia only. As it came out on September, 2, the Russian steel company, Mechel, is going to purchase the German trading and metal service company – HBL Holding. In the experts’ opinion, this purchase will enlarge favorably Mechel’s business that already owns several metallurgical enterprises in Romania.

Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declared that in 2008, the Russian government wouldn’t increase the stake of the capital inflow to the economy, since “it poses the additional problems” with the inflation and the volume of money supply. Russia’s Central Bank (CB) and the government can afford such strategy for a year or two, but no later than 2011, though, from the end of 2009 the level of the capital inflow will determine both the inflation and the ruble rate.

In August, 2008 Russia’s oil extraction continued falling – the level is 0,4% less as compared to July. Though the oil refining is growing in Russia, the export falls as well, despite the August price drop both in Russia and at the external market. The drop of oil extraction is compensated partly by means of gas extraction growth provided mainly by the independent producers, while in August Gazprom continued increasing export of energy resources.

Russia’s Lukoil Overseas, Lukoil’s operator of the international projects, signed the agreement with the French company Gaz de France on the 15%-stake sale in the offshore project D-222 (Yalama) in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. As it is said in the press release of the Russian company, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) should approve the deal. At closing of the deal, Lukoil will own the 65%-stake in the project, SOCAR – 20% and Gaz de France – 15%.