Investing.com – Russia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Telecoms, Oil & Gas and Mining sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Moscow, the MICEX declined 0.16% to hit a new 6-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were SG mechel (MCX:MTLR), which rose 2.69% or 4.19 points to trade at 159.93 at the close. Rosseti ao (MCX:RSTI) added 2.58% or 0.0230 points to end at 0.9130 and Surgut-pref (MCX:SNGS_p) was up 2.39% or 0.720 points to 30.900 in late trade.
Biggest losers included ANK Bashneft OAO Pref (MCX:BANE_p), which lost 4.01% or 48.0 points to trade at 1150.0 in late trade. Megion (MCX:MFGS) declined 4.00% or 23.0 points to end at 552.0 and MosEnrg (MCX:MSNG) shed 2.97% or 0.0650 points to 2.1260.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 125 to 83 and 18 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was down 2.12% to 23.580.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.71% or 9.05 to $1287.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.26% or 0.14 to hit $52.97 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.45% or 0.25 to trade at $55.61 a barrel.
USD/RUB was down 0.69% to 56.2105, while EUR/RUB fell 0.94% to 59.817.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.32% at 100.38.