Investing.com – Russia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Power and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Moscow, the MICEX gained 0.37%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were Ros Agro PLC (MCX:AGRODR), which rose 4.26% or 34 points to trade at 833 at the close. NLMK ao (MCX:NLMK) added 3.12% or 3.50 points to end at 115.85 and Aeroflot (MCX:AFLT) was up 2.95% or 4.31 points to 150.51 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Niznekamskneftekhim ao (MCX:NKNC), which lost 10.35% or 7.700 points to trade at 66.700 in late trade. Polymetal International PLC (MCX:POLY) declined 4.98% or 31.50 points to end at 600.50 and United Company Rusal Plc (MCX:RUAL) shed 2.22% or 0.620 points to 27.350.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 116 to 110 and 14 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was up 7.20% to 24.850.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 3.18% or 37.05 to $1126.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.69% or 0.35 to hit $50.69 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.35% or 0.19 to trade at $53.71 a barrel.
USD/RUB was down 0.24% to 61.9348, while EUR/RUB fell 1.65% to 64.284.
The US Dollar Index was up 1.35% at 103.41.