Russian rouble stabilises near 92 vs dollar

The Russian rouble steadied near 92 to the dollar on Friday, on course for its fifth weekly rise in a row, supported by high interest rates and higher foreign currency supply from exporters. By 1021 GMT, the rouble was unchanged against the dollar at 92.05, not far from last week's three-month high of 91.6225.

The Russian rouble steadied near 92 to the dollar on Friday, on course for its fifth weekly rise in a row, supported by high interest rates and higher foreign currency supply from exporters.

By 1021 GMT, the rouble was unchanged against the dollar at 92.05, not far from last week's three-month high of 91.6225. It had gained 0.4% to trade at 98.26 against the euro and was unchanged against the yuan at 12.60 .

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 bigger-than-expected rate hike to 15% in late October has also helped.

"The dollar-rouble pair is showing an intention to start consolidating near the 92 mark," said Alor Broker's Alexei Antonov. "Trading turnovers have declined in the last two days. "This suggests that demand for dollars and yuan from imports is continuing to decline, and exporters are in no hurry to increase foreign currency sales at a worsening exchange rate for them."

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.9% at $80.72 a barrel. Russian stock indexes were lower.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.1% to 1,107.5 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.1% lower at 3,235.8 points. Shares in oil major Rosneft jumped to a near three-week high before settling to trade 2% higher, after the company said its board would discuss dividends.

Meanwhile, the world's biggest natural gas company Gazprom saw its market capitalisation fall below that of its oil unit Gazprom Neft for the first time since at least 2016, BCS Express analysts said. "The trigger for the strong growth of Gazprom Neft's shares was the recovery of the oil industry, the high price of oil and the availability of dividends," said BCS Express.