Russian stocks pare gains on Europe debt fears

The ruble-denominated MICEX, which opened 2.80 percent up on Thursday, sagged by 4.74 percent as of 4:04 p.m. Moscow time to 1,363.59 points while the dollar-denominated RTS index fell 4.33 percent to 1,471.12 points erasing its 3.10 percent gain in the morning. The Russian stocks are following trends on European bourses, which are seeing a massive sell-off, Raiffeisen Bank analyst Olga Mitrofanova told RIA Novosti. "The European indexes have swung into the red amid growing fears over the problems of European banks (whose balance sheets are overburdened with the liabilities of debt-saddled European countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain)," she said. Global stocks have been tumbling since late Friday when Standard & Poor's made its historic cut of the U.S. top rating by one notch to AA-plus, raising fears that the world's largest economy may slip into a recession again.