Today's Major Market Move: Russian Stock Market Declines 8.5% in December

It's been a rough month for the BRIC equity markets; all four were in the red and two of them were in the bottom 3. Here's the list of the worst performing benchmark equity indexes for the month of December:

Click here to go to the live chart.

We talked about China's stock market on Dec 13th when it fell to new 2011 lows, so in this post we're going to focus on Russia. The benchmark RTS Standard Index fell 8.5% for the month, but it is still sitting above the 2011 lows. Here's a comparison of all four benchmark BRIC equity indexes for the past year.

Click here to go to the live chart.

All four indexes have tracked each other fairly closely in 2011 are all down around 20% for the year.

Another point of potential concern for Russia is the Ruble which has been showing some weakness lately. The USDRUB cross is getting very close to its 2011 highs.

Click here to go to the live chart.