Rouble recovers after touching over one-month low vs dollar

The Russian rouble hit a more than one-month low in early trade on Thursday before recovering, buffeted by relatively low oil prices and the reduced supply of foreign currency from exporters. President Vladimir Putin and the heads of Russia's central bank, finance ministry and economy ministry were due to speak at a forum hosted by VTB Bank on Thursday.

The Russian rouble hit a more than one-month low in early trade on Thursday before recovering, buffeted by relatively low oil prices and the reduced supply of foreign currency from exporters.

President Vladimir Putin and the heads of Russia's central bank, finance ministry and economy ministry were due to speak at a forum hosted by VTB Bank on Thursday. By 1024 GMT, the rouble was 0.3% stronger against the dollar at 92.57, having earlier touched its weakest point since Nov. 3 at 93.56.

It had gained 0.3% to trade at 99.81 versus the euro and had firmed 0.1% against the yuan to 12.93 . "Rouble devaluation is continuing," said Alexei Antonov of Alor Broker, expecting the rouble to head towards 97.5 to the dollar in the coming sessions. It has fallen from around 89 to the dollar at the start of last week.

The rouble has now lost support from the month-end tax period, for which Russian exporters usually convert foreign currency into roubles. Before last week, the currency had enjoyed seven weeks of gains. It has rebounded from more than 100 to the dollar, thanks to high interest rates and reduced capital outflows since Putin introduced the forced conversion of some foreign currency revenue for exporters in October.

The market will be closely following Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina on Thursday, who could issue a fresh signal ahead of the bank's final rate decision of the year next week. Analysts polled by Reuters expect the Bank of Russia to raise rates to 16% on Dec. 15.

"At the moment, the fundamental value of the rouble is about 90 to the dollar, give or take," German Gref, CEO of Russia's largest lender Sberbank said in an interview with state television, broadcast on Thursday. "Honestly, we don't see great potential for strengthening, but we also don't see great potential for the rouble to weaken strongly in some way."

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 1.4% at $75.33 a barrel, recovering slightly after sliding to a more than five-month low in the previous session. Russian stock indexes were lower.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.3% to 1,042.0 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.6% lower at 3,061.5 points.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)