Russia shares lower at close of trade; MICEX down 0.99%

Investing.com – Russia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Oil & Gas , Mining and Manufacturing sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Moscow, the MICEX declined 0.99%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were Niznekamskneftekhim ao (MCX: NKNC ), which rose 2.02% or 1.000 points to trade at 50.500 at the close. Aeroflot (MCX: AFLT ) added 1.96% or 1.51 points to end at 78.40 and Uralkaliy (MCX: URKA ) was up 1.80% or 2.90 points to 164.05 in late trade.

Biggest losers included MMC Norilsk Nickel (MCX: GMKN ), which lost 3.20% or 291.0 points to trade at 8809.0 in late trade. Rosneft (MCX: ROSN ) declined 2.75% or 9.50 points to end at 336.50 and Polymetal International PLC (MCX: POLY ) shed 2.74% or 18.00 points to 638.00.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 114 to 109 and 18 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.

The Russian VIX , which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was up 1.48% to 35.570.

In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 0.23% or 2.95 to $1277.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 2.26% or 0.99 to hit $44.77 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 1.61% or 0.72 to trade at $45.34 a barrel.

USD/RUB was down 1.21% to 65.7274, while EUR/RUB fell 1.95% to 74.933.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.50% at 93.74.