MOSCOW: The rouble weakened against both the dollar and the euro on Monday, extending a dramatic slide that has seen the currency reach new record lows, after Moody's downgraded Russia's sovereign debt rating.
The Russian currency has been pressured for months by falling oil prices, Western sanctions restricting Russian firms' access to international capital markets and a stronger dollar.
The central bank says it has spent over $13 billion defending the rouble since the start of the month. At 0635 GMT the rouble was 0.47 percent weaker at 40.94 against the dollar and 0.42 percent weaker at 52.21 against the euro.
That left the currency 0.44 percent weaker at 46.01 against the dollar-euro basket the central bank uses to gauge the rouble's nominal exchange rate.
Moody's Investors Service cut Russia's sovereign debt rating to 'Baa2' from 'Baa1' after market close on Friday, becoming the second ratings agency to cut Russia's ratings this year.
The central bank said early on Monday it had conducted 86.83 billion roubles ($2.12 billion) worth of forex interventions to defend the rouble on Oct. 16 and that it had shifted the rouble's trading band by a further 5 kopecks.
The bank automatically steps in to defend the rouble once it reaches the upper limits of its trading band, moving the band by 5 kopecks every time it has spent $350 million in interventions.
Russian shares edged cautiously higher in early trade, with Moody's rating cut taking the shine off bullish sentiment on global markets which had sent Asian markets surging earlier in the day.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was flat at 1,073 points, while its rouble-based peer MICEX traded 0.7 percent higher at 1,394 points.
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