Russian rouble eases again in quiet trade

The Russian rouble weakened slightly against the dollar, euro and yuan on Tuesday and was seen trading in a narrow range as the market awaited U.S. consumer inflation data for February. By 0855 GMT, the rouble was 0.2% lower at 90.82 to the dollar. Against the euro, the rouble fell 0.2% to 99.25, while against the yuan it slipped 0.3% to 12.64 .

The Russian rouble weakened slightly against the dollar, euro and yuan on Tuesday and was seen trading in a narrow range as the market awaited U.S. consumer inflation data for February. By 0855 GMT, the rouble was 0.2% lower at 90.82 to the dollar.

Against the euro, the rouble fell 0.2% to 99.25, while against the yuan it slipped 0.3% to 12.64 . Traders said they anticipated low turnover ahead of three days of voting, beginning on Friday, in a presidential election where Vladimir Putin is set to extend his rule by six more years.

Yevgeny Loktyukhov of Promsvyazbank said he expected the rouble to trade on Tuesday in a range of 90-91 to the dollar. Brent crude oil was 0.4% higher at $82.57 but Bogdan Zvarich of Banki.ru said the current oil price was not enough to give a real boost to the rouble, especially given a reduced supply of foreign currency from exporters.

The dollar-denominated RTS share index was down 0.18% at 1,151.64, while the rouble-based MOEX Russian index was flat at 3,319.15.