Investing.com – Russia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Oil & Gas and Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Moscow, the MICEX gained 2.44%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were United Company Rusal Plc (MCX:RUAL), which rose 8.62% or 2.730 points to trade at 34.390 at the close. Lukoil (MCX:LKOH) added 5.02% or 161.5 points to end at 3376.5 and Tatneft-3 (MCX:TATN) was up 4.92% or 20.15 points to 429.95 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Polymetal International PLC (MCX:POLY), which lost 4.58% or 32.00 points to trade at 667.00 in late trade. AK Transneft OAO Pref (MCX:TRNF_p) declined 1.36% or 2850 points to end at 207000 and MVideo (MCX:MVID) shed 0.81% or 3.10 points to 381.40.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 131 to 101 and 16 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was up 1.65% to 22.180.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.96% or 11.55 to $1186.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 2.24% or 1.18 to hit $53.93 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 2.41% or 1.33 to trade at $56.41 a barrel.
USD/RUB was up 1.60% to 60.4654, while EUR/RUB rose 0.79% to 64.522.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.72% at 100.63.