Investing.com – Russia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Mining, Manufacturing and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Moscow, the MICEX fell 0.65% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were MMK (MCX:MAGN), which rose 5.27% or 0.701 points to trade at 14.000 at the close. Inter rao ees (MCX:IRAO) added 4.37% or 0.0390 points to end at 0.9310 and Pharmstandard JSC (MCX:PHST) was up 4.26% or 40.0 points to 980.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included SG mechel (MCX:MTLR), which lost 8.29% or 5.43 points to trade at 60.11 in late trade. Moskovskaya Birzha OAO (MCX:MOEX) declined 4.00% or 2.78 points to end at 66.65 and MMC Norilsk Nickel (MCX:GMKN) shed 3.93% or 405.0 points to 9905.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 114 to 75 and 9 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was up 2.45% to 43.890.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 0.41% or 4.90 to $1199.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 2.66% or 1.37 to hit $50.06 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 2.10% or 1.25 to trade at $57.95 a barrel.
USD/RUB was up 0.56% to 57.648, while EUR/RUB rose 0.81% to 62.913.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.09% at 97.46.