Russian rouble climbs to over six-month high vs China's yuan

The Russian rouble climbed to a more than six-month high against China's yuan on Monday, buoyed by the start of larger state forex purchases and limited demand for foreign currency at the start of the year from importers.

The Russian rouble climbed to a more than six-month high against China's yuan on Monday, buoyed by the start of larger state forex purchases and limited demand for foreign currency at the start of the year from importers. At 0742 GMT, the rouble had strengthened 0.4% against the yuan to 12.18, earlier hitting 12.155, its strongest point since late June 2023.

It was 0.6% stronger against the dollar at 87.90 and gained 0.8% to 96.31 versus the euro . From Monday, Russia's finance ministry has switched to making foreign currency sales from purchases after December oil and gas revenue was lower than expected.

The finance ministry's currency interventions are carried out by the central bank. In August 2023, the central bank deferred foreign currency purchases until the new year to avoid aggravating pressure on the rouble, which tumbled past 100 to the dollar in August and October. The central bank is set to sell the equivalent of 16.7 billion roubles ($190 million) of foreign currency a day until the end of January.

"This is quite a large amount, which will contribute to the continued strengthening of the rouble," said Alor Broker's Alexei Antonov. The traditionally weak demand for dollars and yuan at the start of the year from importers should also support the currency, Antonov added.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.2% at $78.48 a barrel. Russian stock indexes were higher.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.9% to 1,146.0 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.3% higher at 3,196.2 points.