Investing.com – Russia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Mining, Oil & Gas and Telecoms sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Moscow, the MICEX fell 1.39%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were MMK (MCX:MAGN), which rose 3.56% or 0.695 points to trade at 20.195 at the close. Akron (MCX:AKRN) added 3.50% or 130.0 points to end at 3840.0 and Inter rao ees (MCX:IRAO) was up 3.19% or 0.0510 points to 1.6500 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Polymetal International PLC (MCX:POLY), which lost 5.48% or 41.00 points to trade at 707.00 in late trade. Aeroflot (MCX:AFLT) declined 5.29% or 3.49 points to end at 62.45 and United Company Rusal Plc (MCX:RUAL) shed 3.74% or 1.010 points to 26.010.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 136 to 82 and 21 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was down 7.75% to 40.370.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 0.48% or 6.10 to $1256.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 3.95% or 1.44 to hit $37.94 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 3.08% or 1.22 to trade at $40.87 a barrel.
USD/RUB was down 0.47% to 71.1385, while EUR/RUB fell 3.00% to 78.204.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.19% at 96.98.