Investing.com – Russia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Power and Manufacturing sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Moscow, the MICEX declined 0.21% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were MTS (MCX:MTSS), which rose 2.19% or 5.85 points to trade at 273.45 at the close. MMC Norilsk Nickel (MCX:GMKN) added 2.05% or 200.0 points to end at 9940.0 and United Company Rusal Plc (MCX:RUAL) was up 1.77% or 0.550 points to 31.600 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Inter rao ees (MCX:IRAO), which lost 2.94% or 0.1155 points to trade at 3.8165 in late trade. Rosneft (MCX:ROSN) declined 2.66% or 9.85 points to end at 360.00 and Rostelecom (MCX:RTKM) shed 2.60% or 2.20 points to 82.40.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 117 to 102 and 19 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was down 0.56% to 22.900.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.54% or 6.60 to $1232.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.28% or 0.15 to hit $53.05 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.34% or 0.19 to trade at $55.78 a barrel.
USD/RUB was up 0.24% to 57.2658, while EUR/RUB rose 0.53% to 60.670.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 101.11.