June 20 (Reuters) – The Russian rouble steadied near 84
against the dollar in a relatively narrow trading range on
Tuesday, taking stock of a small rise in oil prices and
lingering geopolitical risks while awaiting an uptick in the
supply of foreign currency.
At 0723 GMT, the rouble was steady against the dollar at
84.11 and had lost 0.1% to trade at 91.93 versus
the euro. It had firmed 0.1% against the yuan to
11.72.
The rouble weakened around 2% against the dollar last week,
blighted by volatile swings in a low liquidity market, eliciting
comments on the rouble rate from senior officials, who suggested
that an exchange rate of 80-90 per dollar was preferable.
The rouble should soon gain support from a month-end tax
period that usually sees exporters convert foreign exchange
revenues to pay local liabilities.
“It seems that the tax period will not noticeably strengthen
the rouble, but only slow down its devaluation,” said Alor
Broker in a note. “After the end of the tax season, upward
momentum in the dollar-rouble pair cannot be ruled out.”
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia’s
main export, was up 0.4% at $76.40 a barrel.
Russian stock indexes were lower.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.1% to
1,052.9 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was
0.1% higher at 2,811.2 points, slightly down from the more than
14-month high hit on Monday.
For Russian equities guide see
For Russian treasury bonds see
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow
Editing by Christina Fincher)
