Investing.com – Russia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Telecoms and Manufacturing sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Moscow, the MICEX declined 1.24%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were MMK (MCX:MAGN), which rose 3.08% or 0.670 points to trade at 22.450 at the close. Niznekamskneftekhim ao (MCX:NKNC) added 2.97% or 1.500 points to end at 52.000 and MVideo (MCX:MVID) was up 2.53% or 6.40 points to 259.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Rosneft (MCX:ROSN), which lost 2.78% or 8.85 points to trade at 309.20 in late trade. Gazprom (MCX:GAZP) declined 2.42% or 3.62 points to end at 146.00 and Sberbank (MCX:SBER) shed 2.14% or 2.39 points to 109.10.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 120 to 105 and 23 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was up 0.59% to 36.010.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 1.98% or 24.70 to $1223.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 3.23% or 1.34 to hit $40.11 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 2.44% or 1.02 to trade at $40.77 a barrel.
USD/RUB was up 1.11% to 68.2392, while EUR/RUB rose 1.11% to 76.308.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.46% at 96.11.