Investing.com – Russia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Manufacturing, Oil & Gas and Telecoms sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Moscow, the MICEX rose 0.95% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were Sberbank Rossii OAO Pref (MCX:SBER_p), which rose 7.07% or 12.61 points to trade at 191.06 at the close. Sberbank Rossii PAO (MCX:SBER) added 5.24% or 10.96 points to end at 220.05 and Polyus OAO (MCX:PLZL) was up 2.22% or 107.0 points to 4930.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Severstal - ao (MCX:CHMF), which lost 2.96% or 27.00 points to trade at 884.50 in late trade. AFK Sistema (MCX:AFKS) declined 2.55% or 0.340 points to end at 12.980 and Yandex NV (MCX:YNDX) shed 2.35% or 45.50 points to 1890.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 112 to 110 and 16 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was up 10.82% to 18.030.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.14% or 1.80 to $1285.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.74% or 0.42 to hit $57.23 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.74% or 0.47 to trade at $63.96 a barrel.
USD/RUB was up 0.05% to 59.2846, while EUR/RUB rose 0.51% to 69.0125.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.35% at 94.44.