Latest News

Russian rouble gains back some ground lost in 'fall slide'

The Russian rouble enhanced even more on Friday after rallying by 1.2% against China's yuan in the previous session however stayed at oneyear lows against all major currencies following a slide in recent weeks.

At 0800 GMT, the rouble was up 0.5% against the yuan at 13.55, according to LSEG information. In trade on the Moscow Stock Exchange (MOEX), the rouble was up 0.51% at 13.48 to the yuan.

The rouble was up 0.5% at 96.10 against the dollar, LSEG information showed. The Russian currency lost about 15% between Sept. 6 and Oct. 10 against major currencies in what some analysts have actually called an fall slide.

Analysts indicated numerous factors behind the rouble's. weak point, consisting of the Oct. 12 expiration of a license from the. U.S. Treasury Department's Workplace of Foreign Assets Control. ( OFAC) which permitted commercial banks to handle MOEX.

The license was issued to enable banks to unwind. operations with MOEX after Western sanctions on the exchange and. its clearing agent, the National Clearing Centre, were. presented on June 12.

The sanctions stopped all trade in dollars and euros at. MOEX, making China's yuan the most traded foreign currency in. Russia.

Trade in dollars and euros has actually moved to the. over-the-counter (OTC) market, obscuring cost data.

There is issue in the market that Chinese banks supplying. yuan liquidity for exchange trading could take out for. compliance factors after the OFAC license ends.

Traders said that active forex purchases in recent days were. connected to the deal to offer the Russian business of Unilever,. which became the most recent international business to leave Russia. given that its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia raising the one-off contribution that foreign. business leaving the country must make to the state treasury to. as high as 35% from 15%, reported on Oct. 10, supported the. rouble on Thursday and Friday, traders said.

One-day rouble-dollar futures, which trade on the Moscow. exchange and are a guide for OTC market rates, were up 0.68% at. 95.18. The central bank's official exchange rate, which it. computes using OTC data, was set at 97.23 to the dollar.

The rouble was flat at 105.73 versus the euro,. LSEG data revealed.

Brent crude oil, an international benchmark for Russia's. main export, was down 0.97% to $78.53 a barrel.

(source: Reuters)