MOSCOW: The Russian rouble traded lower on Wednesday, with the loss of support from monthly taxes outweighing higher oil prices and easing worries over the possible consequences of Britain leaving the European Union.
At 0740 GMT, the rouble was 0.4 percent weaker against the dollar at 64.32 and had lost 0.5 percent to trade at 71.33 versus the euro.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 1.1 percent at $49 a barrel, on easing concerns about the aftermath of Brexit and a threat of a potential strike in Norway, a major crude producer.
The rouble suffered from the end of monthly tax payments that always raise demand for the Russian currency. Analysts, however, said the rouble's weakening is most probably temporary.
Analysts at TeleTrade investment house say that the rouble's resistance zone is between 63.5 and 64.0 per dollar and the Russian currency has chances to firm through the 63.5 level in the short term.
"Then, the dollar might weaken to 60-61 roubles," Anastasia Ignatenko, an analyst at TeleTrade, wrote in a note.
Dmitry Ederman, head analyst at ThetaTrading in Moscow, wrote that he expected the rouble to trade in the short term between 63 and 67 per dollar.
"In general, the rouble still looks strong enough," he said.
Domestic fixed income investors are also awaiting the weekly treasury auctions of rouble-denominated bills, the first since Britain's vote on EU membership. The ministry is offering 20.59 billion roubles worth of the OFZ bonds at two auctions.
"This will be the first test of demand for Russian debt since Brexit," Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, wrote in a note.
Russian share indexes were higher, tracking the firming of the broader emerging markets index
The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 1.0 percent to 914 points, while the rouble-based MICEX was 0.5 percent higher at 1,865 points.
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