MOSCOW: Russia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Mining, Power and Oil & Gas sectors led shares higher. At the close in Moscow, the MICEX added 1.18%. The best performers of the session on the MICEX were United Company Rusal Plc (MCX:RUAL), which rose 7.67% or 2.200 points to trade at 30.890 at the close. Meanwhile, Aeroflot (MCX:AFLT) added 7.35% or 12.15 points to end at 177.35 and SG mechel (MCX:MTLR) was up 4.90% or 7.20 points to 154.00 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were Inter rao ees (MCX:IRAO), which fell 5.01% or 0.2015 points to trade at 3.8240 at the close. AK Transneft OAO Pref (MCX:TRNF_p) declined 2.35% or 4350 points to end at 180600 and Polymetal International PLC (MCX:POLY) was down 1.74% or 12.00 points to 679.00. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Moscow Stock Exchange by 177 to 47 and 18 ended unchanged.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was down 1.15% to 25.770. Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.67% or 8.40 to $1245.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.19% or 0.10 to hit $53.91 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.11% or 0.06 to trade at $56.45 a barrel. USD/RUB was down 0.01% to 58.3023, while EUR/RUB fell 0.28% to 61.583. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.28% at 101.61.
