MOSCOW: The rouble fell to two-week lows against the dollar on Friday on fears that the US Federal Reserve may start winding down its stimulus programme later this year.
The rouble was 0.3 percent down against the dollar at 32.20 and up 0.1 percent against the euro at 43.55 at 0820 GMT, leaving it down 0.1 percent at 37.31 against the dollar-euro basket monitored by the central bank.
Investors are bringing forward expectations of the Fed scaling back its stimulus, a factor not yet fully priced into the rouble, analysts at Zenit bank said in a note.
They see the Russian currency remaining under pressure close to 37.50-37.60 roubles against the basket next week. The rouble is the most overbought currency against the dollar in emerging markets, as valued by the current spot level to the last local high versus the dollar in May, offering least growth potential, said Iskander Abdullaev at Sberbank Investment Research in an email. Russian stocks were little changed.
At 0820 GMT, the rouble-denominated MICEX index was up 0.2 percent at 1,514 points. The dollar-denominated RTS was flat at at 1,481 points. "The market is not very active.
The reallocation of capital in the recent IPOs of the classic stock funds played a role.
In addition, many believe the indexes have too quickly gone up as a result of the September growth," wrote Alexei Suverov, chief analyst at Russian Standard asset management company, in a note to clients.
State diamond miner Alrosa sold a 16 percent stake this week, while consumer credit company TCS raised $1 billion in a London offering earlier in October.
Shares of oil company Bashneft fell 7.3 percent in morning trade, reflecting the end of dividend payments.
Russia-dedicated investment funds saw outflows at $30 million or 0.25 percent of assets under management in the week ending on Wednesday, Uralsib Capital cited EPFR Global data, following inflows of almost 1 percent of assets in the previous week.
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