Russian stocks were down sharply across the board in early trading on March 10 after a public holiday following a crash in oil prices that saw the ruble tumble and global markets plunge.
The RTS index dropped 16 percent at the open before rebounding slightly to be around 12 percent down at 1015 GMT.
The ruble tumbled by more than 5 percent to less than 72 to the U.S. dollar.
Global stock markets on March 9 suffered their biggest losses in more than a decade in reaction to the threat of an oil-price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Russia shocked oil markets by leaving a pact with the OPEC oil-exporting group, leading to a 30 percent plunge in crude to around $31 a barrel.
Markets were already on edge from the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, which has spread to more 100 countries with more than 110,000 cases. The number of deaths worldwide has passed 4,000.
After heavy losses the previous session, European stock markets opened slightly higher, with London’s FTSE 100 share index gaining 1 percent.
Earlier, Japan’s main stock index closed up 0.85 percent and Hong Kong advanced 1.9 percent.
Oil prices also recovered some of their losses with Brent crude, the standard for international oil prices, gaining 5.8 percent to $36.34 per barrel in London.
U.S. futures rose following President Donald Trump’s announcement he would ask Congress for a tax cut and other measures to ease the pain of the coronavirus outbreak.