Russian rouble weakens against dollar

Oil prices extended last week's losses on concern about slow demand in China, although lingering geopolitical risk linked to the Middle East and Russia limited the decline. Russia's Sinara investment bank said in a note the rouble could have a volatile week due to upcoming large Eurobond repayments, foreign exchange futures expiration and the presidential elections.

The Russian rouble weakened against the U.S. dollar on Monday as oil prices hit a two-week low and some market players expected the whole week to be jittery. By 0640 GMT, the rouble was 0.2% lower at 90.80 to the dollar.

Against the euro, the rouble fell 0.4% to 99.30 and it slipped 0.1% to 12.61 against the yuan . Oil prices extended last week's losses on concern about slow demand in China, although lingering geopolitical risk linked to the Middle East and Russia limited the decline.

Russia's Sinara investment bank said in a note the rouble could have a volatile week due to upcoming large Eurobond repayments, foreign exchange futures expiration and the presidential elections. On the other hand, extra foreign currency sales by exporters ahead of the income tax payment deadline on March 28 could provide some support for the rouble.

Russian stock indexes rose. The dollar-denominated RTS index rose 0.38% to 1,165.45. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index gained 0.47% to 3,331.14.