Russia to spend almost $7B on domestic stocks

The Russian government will start buying stocks next week, spending billions to help prop up stricken markets, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said as parliament approved measures designed to get cash moving quickly into the troubled banking sector. Russia's stock markets remained closed Friday after heavy selloffs. Putin said Friday the government will invest 175 billion rubles ($6.7 billion) in the stock markets this year and has set aside at least the same amount for next year, after repeated requests from lawmakers and analysts to the Kremlin to invest part of its reserve funds in domestic stocks rather than foreign securities. National development bank Vnesheconombank will start placing funds in domestic shares next week, Putin told reporters ahead of the first meeting of a government commission on foreign investment, held... [read full story]