Russia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Oil&Gas and Power sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Moscow, the MOEX Russia gained 0.14% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the MOEX Russia were MTS (MCX:MTSS), which rose 3.88% or 10.00 points to trade at 268.00 at the close. Meanwhile, NOVATEK (MCX:NVTK) added 3.17% or 33.40 points to end at 1085.40 and SG mechel (MCX:MTLR) was up 1.82% or 1.32 points to 73.99 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Ros Agro PLC (MCX:AGRODR), which fell 2.23% or 17 points to trade at 744 at the close. Tatneft OAO Pref (MCX:TATN_p) declined 2.05% or 11.50 points to end at 550.80 and PhosAgro ao (MCX:PHOR) was down 1.52% or 37.0 points to 2405.0.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Moscow Stock Exchange by 134 to 102 and 9 ended unchanged.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MOEX Russia options, was up 1.71% to 20.840.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.19% or 2.45 to $1304.15 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.46% or 0.28 to hit $59.95 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.73% or 0.50 to trade at $68.00 a barrel.
USD/RUB was down 0.01% to 63.8531, while EUR/RUB fell 0.55% to 72.4630.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.90% at 96.062.
