Rouble weakens as Ukraine hits refinery deep in Russian territory

The Russian rouble weakened against the dollar on Tuesday, hampered by reduced foreign currency supply from exporters and as the market reacted to another Ukrainian drone attack on a refinery deep in Russian territory. Ukraine struck one of Russia's biggest refineries with a drone 1,300 km (800 miles) from the front lines in Ukraine and said it had inflicted significant damage on a military target.

The Russian rouble weakened against the dollar on Tuesday, hampered by reduced foreign currency supply from exporters and as the market reacted to another Ukrainian drone attack on a refinery deep in Russian territory.

Ukraine struck one of Russia's biggest refineries with a drone 1,300 km (800 miles) from the front lines in Ukraine and said it had inflicted significant damage on a military target. By 0836 GMT, the rouble was 0.4% lower at 92.55. Against the euro, the rouble fell 0.3% to 99.43 and dropped 0.4% to 12.73 against the yuan.

The rouble typically loses ground at the start of each month after exporters have paid month-end taxes for which they usually convert their foreign currency revenues. "Despite the decline in the supply of foreign currencies from exporters, the further improvement of the situation on the energy market will be a restraining factor for selling the rouble," said Bogdan Zvarich of Banki.ru.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, rose 1.4% to $88.60 a barrel. Russia's benchmark, the rouble-based MOEX index slipped 0.1% to 3,360.6 points, having earlier hit its strongest since Feb. 21, 2022, shortly before Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The dollar-denominated RTS index fell 0.4% to 1,143.9.