MOSCOW: Russia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Power and Mining sectors led shares lower. At the close in Moscow, the MICEX fell 0.51%. The best performers of the session on the MICEX were ALROSA ao (MCX:ALRS), which rose 3.62% or 3.360 points to trade at 96.210 at the close. Meanwhile, Inter rao ees (MCX:IRAO) added 1.72% or 0.0700 points to end at 4.1390 and Sberbank Rossii OAO Pref (MCX:SBER_p) was up 1.02% or 1.27 points to 126.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Megion (MCX:MFGS), which fell 4.06% or 26.0 points to trade at 614.0 at the close. FSK EES (MCX:FEES) declined 2.87% or 0.0056 points to end at 0.1892 and Ros Agro PLC (MCX:AGRODR) was down 2.68% or 19 points to 690. Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Moscow Stock Exchange by 104 to 99 and 24 ended unchanged. Shares in Ros Agro PLC (MCX:AGRODR) fell to 52-week lows; falling 2.68% or 19 to 690.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was down 1.26% to 23.500. Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.25% or 3.15 to $1246.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.37% or 0.18 to hit $47.86 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.06% or 0.03 to trade at $50.67 a barrel. USD/RUB was down 0.59% to 57.4452, while EUR/RUB fell 0.76% to 61.912. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.09% at 99.57.
