Investing.com – Russia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Power, Oil & Gas and Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Moscow, the MICEX rose 1.05%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were GidroOGK-011D (MCX:HYDR), which rose 4.46% or 0.0305 points to trade at 0.7140 at the close. Rostelecom (MCX:RTKM) added 3.25% or 3.06 points to end at 97.33 and Rosneft (MCX:ROSN) was up 2.71% or 8.15 points to 309.40 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ros Agro PLC (MCX:AGRO), which lost 4.18% or 51 points to trade at 1168 in late trade. MegaFon OAO (MCX:MFON) declined 4.03% or 34.00 points to end at 809.00 and Gruppa Cherkizovo ao (MCX:GCHE) shed 3.14% or 30.0 points to 925.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 122 to 105 and 17 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was down 1.38% to 35.690 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 2.81% or 34.60 to $1264.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 3.67% or 1.41 to hit $39.87 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 2.36% or 0.95 to trade at $41.28 a barrel.
USD/RUB was down 1.57% to 68.0898, while EUR/RUB fell 0.95% to 77.123.
The US Dollar Index was down 1.01% at 94.73.