MOSCOW: Russia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Power, Oil & Gas and Mining sectors led shares higher. At the close in Moscow, the MICEX rose 0.39%. The best performers of the session on the MICEX were RusHydro JSC (MCX:HYDR), which rose 7.16% or 0.0670 points to trade at 1.0030 at the close. Meanwhile, MosEnrg (MCX:MSNG) added 3.21% or 0.0775 points to end at 2.4895 and Gazprom PAO (MCX:GAZP) was up 2.67% or 3.50 points to 134.80 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were Moskovskaya Birzha OAO (MCX:MOEX), which fell 4.99% or 6.21 points to trade at 118.26 at the close. Aeroflot (MCX:AFLT) declined 2.96% or 5.15 points to end at 168.85 and Sberbank Rossii OAO Pref (MCX:SBER_p) was down 2.28% or 2.86 points to 122.43. Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Moscow Stock Exchange by 122 to 88 and 22 ended unchanged.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was down 1.77% to 26.580. Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.64% or 7.95 to $1224.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 1.10% or 0.58 to hit $53.19 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.00% or 0.55 to trade at $55.63 a barrel. USD/RUB was down 0.52% to 58.5236, while EUR/RUB fell 0.04% to 61.791. The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.25% at 101.90.
