MOSCOW: The Russian rouble eased slightly and stock indexes declined on Tuesday with lower oil prices as the market waited for the finance ministry's FX buying plan and details of treasury bond auctions.
The rouble was 0.1 percent lower at 65.82 versus the dollar by 0745 GMT and was steady at 74.53 versus the euro.
The finance ministry is due to announce the amount of foreign currency it plans to buy on the market in March.
A Reuters poll showed that Russia was expected to buy 247.5 billion roubles ($3.76 billion) worth of foreign exchange for state reserves from March 7 to April 4.
The finance ministry is also expected to announce details of weekly OFZ bond auctions that it will hold on Wednesday.
Investors in OFZ bonds are keeping a close eye on the central bank's monetary policy rhetoric ahead of a rate-setting meeting on March 22 for clues on where yields could head.
On Tuesday, the central bank sent a signal to the market that it was in no rush to raise rates this month and may even consider cutting them later this year.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 0.4 percent at $65.41 a barrel, dragging Russian stocks lower.
The dollar-denominated RTS index fell 0.4 percent to 1,181.5 points, while its rouble-based peer MOEX was down 0.2 percent at 2,467.9 points.
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