Russian rouble weakens in light holiday trade

The Russian rouble weakened on Moscow's first trading day of 2024 on Wednesday, sliding towards the 92 mark to the dollar and away from the one-month high reached at the end of last year.

The Russian rouble weakened on Moscow's first trading day of 2024 on Wednesday, sliding towards the 92 mark to the dollar and away from the one-month high reached at the end of last year. At 0801 GMT, the rouble was 1% weaker against the dollar at 91.30. It had traded as strong as 88.70, a one-month high, on Dec. 29.

It had lost 0.4% to trade at 99.98 versus the euro and shed 0.9% against the yuan to 12.73 . Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 0.4% at $75.59 a barrel.

Since October and the rouble's most recent slide to 100 against the dollar, a presidential decree forcing exporters to convert some foreign currency revenue supported the Russian currency, as have elevated interest rates, which were hiked to 16% last month. The central bank said in late December it would sell 11.8 billion roubles ($129.2 million) of foreign currency a day in addition to monthly operations it carries out on the finance ministry's behalf, another measure buttressing the Russian currency.

Russian stock indexes were mixed. The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.6% to 1,077.0 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.7% higher at 3,121.3 points.

For Russian equities guide see For Russian treasury bonds see ($1 = 91.3300 roubles)