Russia's battered stock benchmarks continued their losing streak on Friday, with the MICEX dropping 6 percent and the RTS index down 4.7 percent by 1:30 p.m. (0930 GMT), AP reported. Gains in the U.S. market Thursday did not keep Russian stocks from falling on Friday as Finance Alexei Kudrin predicted further declines. «Risks on the global markets are growing, so our indexes will be going down,» Alexei Kudrin said in a televised address to the Russian parliament. «Volatile indexes are inherent in our weak financial system.» Falling oil prices and concerns over the country's troubled banking sector contributed to a sharp drop Thursday on Russia's two main stock exchanges, sending the MICEX and RTS 9 percent down. The MICEX and RTS posted modest gains Friday morning but started going down a few hours after the trading's opening.
