Latest News

Russian rouble damages before central bank rate choice

The Russian rouble damaged against both the U.S. dollar and the Chinese yuan ahead of the central bank's board meeting on Friday, where the regulator is expected to keep the benchmark rates of interest at 18%.

By 0730 GMT, the rouble was down by 2% at 91.05 versus the dollar and down 0.2% at 12.71 against the yuan, LSEG data revealed.

The rouble was up by 0.1% at 12.72 against the yuan in trade on the Moscow Stock Exchange.

Trading in significant currencies in Russia has moved to the over the counter (OTC) market, obscuring price information, since Western sanctions on the Moscow Exchange and its clearing representative, the National Cleaning Centre, were introduced on June 12.

The reserve bank is most likely to keep its benchmark interest rate the same at 18%, according to a majority of 27 experts surveyed , in the middle of early signs of the economy cooling off.

One-day rouble-dollar futures, which trade on the Moscow Exchange and are a guide for OTC market rates, were up 0.3% at 90.68. The reserve bank's official currency exchange rate, which it calculates utilizing OTC data, was set at 91.11 to the dollar.

The rouble was down by 2% at 100.76 against the euro , LSEG information revealed.

Brent petroleum, a global standard for Russia's. main export, was up 0.4% at $72.42, extending a rally triggered by. output interruptions in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

(source: Reuters)