Russian rouble slides to near one-month low vs dollar

The Russian rouble slipped to a four-week low against the dollar on Monday, as the market prepared for Moscow to increase its foreign currency sales and new restrictions on Russian oil products took effect.

The Russian rouble slipped to a four-week low against the dollar on Monday, as the market prepared for Moscow to increase its foreign currency sales and new restrictions on Russian oil products took effect. By 1358 GMT, the rouble was 0.4% weaker against the dollar at 70.89, earlier touching 70.9850, its weakest point since Jan. 9.

It had gained 0.9% to trade at 76.21 versus the euro and shed 0.1% against the yuan to 10.43 . "(FX) interventions are for now smoothing out a possible rouble slump," Raiffeisen Bank analysts said in a note.

Russia plans to sell 8.9 billion roubles ($126.15 million) worth of foreign currency per day from Tuesday, a near three-fold increase on the previous month, compensating for lower oil and gas revenue. That revenue in January fell to the lowest monthly level since August 2020, raising the prospect of Russia falling deeper into a budget deficit in the months ahead.

European Union countries last week agreed to set price caps at $100 per barrel on products that trade at a premium to crude, principally diesel, and $45 per barrel for products that trade at a discount, such as fuel oil and naphtha. Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 1.4% at $81.1 a barrel.

Friday's sharp drop in Brent prices, below $80 per barrel, could hurt investor sentiment in equities, unless a rebound comes today, Sinara Investment Bank wrote in a note. Russian stock indexes were higher.

The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 1.1% higher at 2,273.4 points, its highest mark since mid-September. The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.8% to 1,010.0 points. The Bank of Russia is expected to hold its key interest rate at 7.5% on Friday but may give a more hawkish signal to the market as inflationary risks become more pronounced, a Reuters poll showed on Monday. ($1 = 70.5500 roubles)

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