Moscow, The Indonesia Post – The ruble traded near 61 against the dollar in early Friday trading, and strengthened against the euro and yuan, supported by a favorable month-end tax period as geopolitical pressures continued to grip the Russian market.
At 0753 GMT, the ruble was up 0.1 percent against the dollar at 61.31, after opening at 61.1125, its strongest point since October 10.
The ruble was up 0.6 percent to trade at 60.22 against the euro and was up 0.5 percent against the yuan to 8.40, earlier cutting its highest level in more than two weeks.
“The Russian currency continues to consolidate on the back of the tax payout period,” Veles Capital said in a note.
The ruble is underpinned by a month-end tax period that typically sees export-focused companies converting foreign exchange earnings into rubles to pay domestic tax obligations.
The ever-present threat of Western sanctions over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine continues to haunt the Russian market, which remains vulnerable to bouts of wild volatility.
Investors are also looking forward to the central bank’s rate decision next week.
“Since the September meeting, new proinflation and disinflation factors have emerged,” said Igor Rapokhin, Head of Debt Market Strategy at SberCIB Investment Research. He expects the Bank of Russia to keep its key interest rate at 7.5 percent on October 28.
Brent crude, the global benchmark for Russia’s top export, fell 0.6 percent to 91.9 dollars a barrel.
“The Russian stock market is still dominated by trading sentiment,” said BCS Global Markets. “Since late September, the MOEX index has entered a consolidation phase, and the ups and downs may continue in the short term.”
Russian stock indexes were lower in early trading Friday. The dollar-denominated RTS index fell 0.6 percent to trade at 1,034.8 points. The ruble-based Russia MOEX index fell 0.5 percent to trade at 2,014.7 points. (mhn/bbs)
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