Russian rouble slips to weakest against the dollar since late October

Russia's finance ministry last week said it would more than double its purchases of foreign currency and gold in the month ahead in a move that, combined with central bank selling, will bring the state's overall net forex interventions close to zero. By 0735 GMT the rouble was 0.5% down at 93.873 to the dollar, having earlier touched 93.9350 for its weakest point since Oct. 30 last year.

The Russian rouble fell to its weakest against the U.S. dollar since late October on Thursday, hampered by the Russian state's significantly lower foreign currency sales this month. Russia's finance ministry last week said it would more than double its purchases of foreign currency and gold in the month ahead in a move that, combined with central bank selling, will bring the state's overall net forex interventions close to zero.

By 0735 GMT the rouble was 0.5% down at 93.873 to the dollar, having earlier touched 93.9350 for its weakest point since Oct. 30 last year. Against the euro, the rouble fell 0.4% to 100.85 and against the yuan it dropped 0.4% to 12.93.

"The weakening of the rouble may now follow the lower volume of foreign currency sales by the central bank and also the gradual growth in demand (for FX) from individuals before the vacation season," said Maxim Fedosov, portfolio manager at First Asset Management. Russians usually take advantage of holidays in early May to travel overseas.

Fedosov said that high oil prices and tight monetary policy were still buttressing the Russian currency. The central bank's next interest rate meeting is on April 26. Analysts polled by Reuters expect rates to be held at 16%. Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said on Wednesday that Russia's inflation peak has passed, though the slowdown is not yet sufficient for interest rates to start to fall.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, rose 0.1% to $90.55 a barrel. Russian stock indexes were mixed. The dollar-denominated RTS index fell 0.2% to 1,157.0 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index gained 0.3% to 3,447.6 for its strongest point since shortly before the conflict in Ukraine started in February 2022. ($1 = 93.8300 roubles)

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