Investing.com – Russia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Mining, Manufacturing and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Moscow, the MICEX declined 0.71%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were Bashneft ANK ao (MCX:BANE), which rose 7.55% or 265.5 points to trade at 3780.5 at the close. MiMES Rostelekom OAO Pref (MCX:RTKM_p) added 4.68% or 2.95 points to end at 65.95 and Aeroflot (MCX:AFLT) was up 3.78% or 6.50 points to 178.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included PhosAgro ao (MCX:PHOR), which lost 6.59% or 178.0 points to trade at 2522.0 in late trade. Severstal - ao (MCX:CHMF) declined 2.78% or 25.90 points to end at 906.10 and NOVATEK (MCX:NVTK) shed 2.62% or 19.80 points to 735.20.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 126 to 93 and 21 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was up 0.76% to 25.340.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.42% or 5.25 to $1234.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 1.13% or 0.59 to hit $52.93 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.73% or 0.40 to trade at $55.52 a barrel.
USD/RUB was down 0.56% to 58.9006, while EUR/RUB fell 0.63% to 62.781.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.45% at 100.59.