After the US sanctions softened, there was good news. Russian officials said they would not rule out Rusal.(00486) Oleg Deripaska, the main shareholder, bought Rusal shares, and the news stimulated Rusal to continue its rebound, rising 7% to 2.33 yuan; about 183 million shares were traded, involving an investment of 410 million yuan.

Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis,Manturov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that the government could not rule out the possibility of buying Rusal shares from Oleg. But he stressed that the relevant issues had not yet been discussed.

The US Treasury said yesterday that the US would ease sanctions if Rusal's main shareholder Oleg gave up control. It also issued a new general permit to extend the period for companies to continue trading with Rusal until October 23. Us Treasury Secretary Nuchin said in a statement that Rusal had contacted them to apply for the sanctions to be lifted.

At present, the Hang Seng IndexAt 30360, down 275 points or 0.90%, the motherboard traded at 41.915 billion yuan.

Shanghai Composite IndexAt 3115.25, it fell 13.68 points, or 0.44%, to 87.161 billion yuan.