Russian rouble edges down further, Russian stocks up

MOSCOW: The rouble continued to decline on Monday but at a gentler pace than last week, while Russian stocks edged upwards.

At 0700 GMT the rouble was down 0.2 percent against the dollar-euro basket to 40.76, and by the same amount to 35.22 against the dollar and to 47.51 against the euro.

The rouble has come under attack over recent weeks, hitting a historic low against the basket last week, as concerns over the US Federal Reserve's reduction of monetary stimulus weigh on emerging market currencies.

Macro-Advisory analyst Chris Weafer predicted that the rouble would nevertheless see a modest rally this week, helped by the closure of Chinese markets for Chinese New Year and the beginning of monthly Russian tax payments.

"It is the China growth number, rather than the Fed's tapering, which poses the greatest threat to the rouble," he wrote in a note. Russian stock indexes crept up, shrugging off falls in Asian markets following weak Chinese manufacturing data.

At 0700 GMT the rouble-denominated MICEX index was up 0.1 percent to 1454 points, with the dollar-denominated RTS index also up 0.1 percent to 1300 points.

Russian supermarket chain Lenta, part-owned by US private equity firm TPG, officially announced its intention to launch an IPO on the London Stock Exchange.