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 0.50%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were AFK Sistema (MCX:AFKS), which rose 7.29% or 0.910 points to trade at 13.400 at the close. MMK (MCX:MAGN) added 5.45% or 1.625 points to end at 31.460 and ANK Bashneft OAO Pref (MCX:BANE_p) was up 4.35% or 48.0 points to 1151.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included MMC Norilsk Nickel (MCX:GMKN), which lost 5.31% or 440.0 points to trade at 7850.0 in late trade. Magnit (MCX:MGNT) declined 1.78% or 169.0 points to end at 9330.0 and Unipro (MCX:UPRO) shed 1.54% or 0.0390 points to 2.5000.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 132 to 74 and 20 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was down 2.10% to 25.610.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.52% or 6.44 to $1252.24 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.58% or 0.67 to hit $43.20 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 1.78% or 0.80 to trade at $45.62 a barrel.
USD/RUB was down 0.85% to 59.7943, while EUR/RUB rose 0.97% to 66.9380.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 97.27.