Investing.com – Russia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Telecoms, Oil & Gas and Power sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Moscow, the MICEX fell 1.11%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were Polymetal International PLC (MCX:POLY), which rose 4.63% or 31.50 points to trade at 712.50 at the close. Ros Agro PLC (MCX:AGRO) added 4.12% or 48 points to end at 1213 and ALROSA ao (MCX:ALRS) was up 2.73% or 1.700 points to 64.000 in late trade.
Biggest losers included MegaFon OAO (MCX:MFON), which lost 4.41% or 38.00 points to trade at 824.00 in late trade. Niznekamskneftekhim ao (MCX:NKNC) declined 3.97% or 1.900 points to end at 46.000 and Aeroflot (MCX:AFLT) shed 3.87% or 2.16 points to 53.64.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 140 to 77 and 18 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was down 0.77% to 47.760.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 4.94% or 59.00 to $1253.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 2.17% or 0.59 to hit $26.86 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 1.54% or 0.47 to trade at $30.36 a barrel.
USD/RUB was up 2.02% to 80.2283, while EUR/RUB rose 3.58% to 91.243.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.40% at 95.46.