MOSCOW: Russia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Mining, Oil & Gas and Power sectors led shares higher. At the close in Moscow, the MICEX gained 1.12%. The best performers of the session on the MICEX were Tatneft OAO Pref (MCX:TATN_p), which rose 4.49% or 9.20 points to trade at 214.30 at the close. Meanwhile, Rosseti ao (MCX:RSTI) added 4.38% or 0.0399 points to end at 0.9499 and United Company Rusal Plc (MCX:RUAL) was up 4.02% or 1.170 points to 30.240 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were MosEnrg (MCX:MSNG), which fell 2.65% or 0.0650 points to trade at 2.3850 at the close. Rostelecom (MCX:RTKM) declined 1.57% or 1.20 points to end at 75.00 and Yandex NV (MCX:YNDX) was down 1.53% or 21.00 points to 1354.00. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Moscow Stock Exchange by 132 to 83 and 18 ended unchanged.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was up 9.50% to 23.620. Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.12% or 1.45 to $1228.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.12% or 0.06 to hit $48.69 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.14% or 0.07 to trade at $51.67 a barrel. USD/RUB was down 1.01% to 57.1973, while EUR/RUB fell 0.24% to 61.969. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 100.13.
