Investing.com – Russia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Mining and Power sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Moscow, the MICEX declined 0.84%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were SG mechel (MCX:MTLR), which rose 5.88% or 10.91 points to trade at 196.53 at the close. PhosAgro ao (MCX:PHOR) added 5.11% or 134.0 points to end at 2755.0 and Moskovskaya Birzha OAO (MCX:MOEX) was up 3.71% or 4.82 points to 134.77 in late trade.
Biggest losers included ALROSA ao (MCX:ALRS), which lost 5.48% or 5.590 points to trade at 96.400 in late trade. Magnit (MCX:MGNT) declined 5.07% or 534.0 points to end at 10000.0 and NOVATEK (MCX:NVTK) shed 2.35% or 18.00 points to 748.70.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 116 to 107 and 20 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was down 2.26% to 24.630.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.31% or 3.65 to $1181.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 2.81% or 1.43 to hit $52.25 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 2.83% or 1.52 to trade at $55.16 a barrel.
USD/RUB was up 0.15% to 60.2523, while EUR/RUB fell 0.38% to 63.169.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.64% at 102.66.