MOSCOW: Russia's stock exchange rallied Tuesday evening, recovering its morning losses as oil bounced back above $30, with the ruble also recovering.
The dollar-denominated RTS index, which had fallen by 3.5 percent at the opening, recovered to show a gain of 0.22 percent at the closing bell.
Micex, a ruble-denominated exchange, closed down by 0.67 percent, however.
Russia's battered ruble weakened to around 82 to the dollar on Tuesday morning before strengthening to 78.7 rubles. It was trading at 85.4 against the euro, roughly the same as Monday.
The ruble last week hit an all-time record low against the dollar, passing the 82 rubles to the dollar mark.
Russia -- whose energy-reliant economy has already been pushed into recession by low oil prices and Western sanctions over Ukraine -- has been rocked by the fresh fall in oil prices and officials have come under increasing pressure to react.
The country's gross domestic product (GDP) fell 3.7 percent last year, the state statistics agency said on Monday, and the government is having to cut back spending having based its budget on expectations of oil staying around $50 per barrel.
Russia's central bank chief Elvia Nabiullina said last week that authorities have "all the means" necessary to ward off instability.
The government recently announced that it was preparing an anti-crisis plan to support sectors of the economy affected by the crisis.
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