Investing.com – Russia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Power, Oil & Gas and Telecoms sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Moscow, the MICEX gained 2.08% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were GidroOGK-011D (MCX:HYDR), which rose 6.06% or 0.0409 points to trade at 0.7154 at the close. PIK (MCX:PIKK) added 5.85% or 12.20 points to end at 220.90 and Inter rao ees (MCX:IRAO) was up 5.60% or 0.0790 points to 1.4900 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Yandex NV (MCX:YNDX), which lost 2.87% or 30.00 points to trade at 1014.00 in late trade. Niznekamskneftekhim ao (MCX:NKNC) declined 2.25% or 1.100 points to end at 47.800 and NLMK ao (MCX:NLMK) shed 1.91% or 1.44 points to 74.11.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 129 to 77 and 27 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was down 1.85% to 42.420.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 0.97% or 11.80 to $1223.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.98% or 0.30 to hit $30.96 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.26% or 0.09 to trade at $34.59 a barrel.
USD/RUB was up 1.52% to 76.1783, while EUR/RUB rose 0.89% to 84.541.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.06% at 96.93.