MOSCOW: Russia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Manufacturing, Mining and Oil & Gas sectors led shares lower. At the close in Moscow, the MICEX lost 0.30%. The best performers of the session on the MICEX were Aeroflot (MCX:AFLT), which rose 7.40% or 10.88 points to trade at 157.91 at the close. Meanwhile, ALROSA ao (MCX:ALRS) added 5.76% or 5.550 points to end at 101.950 and AK Transneft OAO Pref (MCX:TRNF_p) was up 4.94% or 10400 points to 221000 in late trade.The worst performers of the session were MMC Norilsk Nickel (MCX:GMKN), which fell 4.26% or 445.0 points to trade at 9994.0 at the close. Lukoil (MCX:LKOH) declined 2.78% or 94.5 points to end at 3300.0 and Yandex NV (MCX:YNDX) was down 2.12% or 27.50 points to 1271.50. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Moscow Stock Exchange by 107 to 106 and 28 ended unchanged.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was down 3.64% to 22.780. Gold for February delivery was up 0.37% or 4.40 to $1201.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.68% or 0.88 to hit $53.13 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.94% or 1.07 to trade at $56.17 a barrel. USD/RUB was down 0.70% to 59.3102, while EUR/RUB fell 0.10% to 63.228. The US Dollar Index was down 0.68% at 101.01.
