Russian rouble edges up in light holiday trade

The rouble firmed marginally in light trade on Monday as Russia celebrated a holiday, with mandatory foreign currency sales by exporters and high interest rates supporting the Russian currency. At 0816 GMT, the rouble was 0.3% weaker against the dollar at 92.17, heading back towards the more than three-month high of 91.6225 hit last week. It was steady at 98.90 versus the euro and had firmed 0.1% against the yuan to 12.64.

The rouble firmed marginally in light trade on Monday as Russia celebrated a holiday, with mandatory foreign currency sales by exporters and high interest rates supporting the Russian currency. At 0816 GMT, the rouble was 0.3% weaker against the dollar at 92.17, heading back towards the more than three-month high of 91.6225 hit last week.

It was steady at 98.90 versus the euro and had firmed 0.1% against the yuan to 12.64. The rouble has strengthened from beyond 100 to the dollar since a presidential decree requiring some exporters to convert a significant portion of foreign currency revenues was announced last month.

The central bank's higher-than-expected rate hike to 15% in late October has also helped. Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 1.2% at $85.90 a barrel.

Russian stock indexes were higher. The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.5% to 1,099.6 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.3% higher at 3,216.9 points.

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