Russian energy stocks plummeted on deteriorating global oil prices Thursday with export monopoly Gazprom loosing two- thirds of its market value as indices hit three-year lows, reported dpa.
Oil firms Rosneft and Lukoil led a plunge of over 11 per cent on the MICEX index, where most Russian stock's are traded, before trading was halted at 4:12 pm (1200 GMT) on Thursday.
Russia's largest company Gazprom saw its market value fall below 100 billion dollars for the first time since 2005 as world oil prices dropped to 73.12 dollars per barrel.
Gazprom stocks shot down 13 per cent on Moscow's dollar- denominated RTS index, shrinking the firms worth to 95.9 billion dollar.
In June, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller declared the firms' ambition grow to the world's biggest within ten years.
Moscow's indexes are down over 60 per cent from peaks in May. The bourses have also been undercut by investors queasiness over Russia's recent war with Georgia amid the global turmoil.