Investing.com – Russia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Mining, Power and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Moscow, the MICEX fell 0.11% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were MegaFon OAO (MCX:MFON), which rose 2.40% or 15.00 points to trade at 641.10 at the close. MTS (MCX:MTSS) added 1.83% or 4.90 points to end at 272.90 and Rosneft (MCX:ROSN) was up 1.77% or 6.75 points to 387.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included MMC Norilsk Nickel (MCX:GMKN), which lost 2.40% or 230.0 points to trade at 9360.0 in late trade. Severstal - ao (MCX:CHMF) declined 2.22% or 20.70 points to end at 912.70 and NLMK ao (MCX:NLMK) shed 1.87% or 2.10 points to 110.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 123 to 100 and 23 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was down 1.88% to 24.060.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.22% or 2.60 to $1204.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 2.34% or 1.22 to hit $53.34 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 2.44% or 1.32 to trade at $55.48 a barrel.
USD/RUB was up 0.21% to 59.8566, while EUR/RUB rose 0.05% to 63.882.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.13% at 100.97.