Russia stocks higher at close of trade

Russia stocks higher at close of trade

Russia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Power, Oil & Gas and Manufacturing sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Moscow, the MICEX rose 1.77% to hit a new 5-year high.

The best performers of the session on the MICEX were MMC Norilsk Nickel , which rose 4.48% or 391.0 points to trade at 9121.0 at the close. Meanwhile, Lenta Ltd  added 3.67% or 15 points to end at 424 and Magnet  was up 3.56% or 361.0 points to 10490.0 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were NLMK ao, which fell 1.61% or 1.40 points to trade at 85.75 at the close. Verhnesald MPO  declined 1.35% or 170.0 points to end at 12410.0 and Aeroflot  was down 0.97% or 0.77 points to 78.55.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Moscow Stock Exchange by 144 to 78 and 25 ended unchanged.

The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was up 2.76% to 36.150.

Gold for June delivery was down 1.11% or 14.00 to $1246.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.97% or 0.41 to hit $41.76 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.96% or 0.43 to trade at $44.26 a barrel.

USD/RUB was up 0.74% to 66.2037, while EUR/RUB rose 0.30% to 74.709.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.72% at 94.70.