Russia's rouble opens slightly stronger vs dollar

MOSCOW: Russia's rouble opened slightly stronger against the US dollar on Monday but continued to lose ground against the euro, leaving it close to the level at which the central bank steps in to defend the currency.

At 0608 GMT, the rouble was 0.14 percent stronger against the dollar at 40.27 but lost 0.42 percent to trade at 51.05 versus the euro.

That left the currency 0.16 percent weaker at 45.13 against the dollar-euro basket the central bank uses to gauge the rouble's nominal exchange rate.