LONDON: Russia's rouble bounced almost 2 percent against the dollar on Friday, driven by suspicions that the Russian central bank has stepped up its defence of the currency which has sunk 5 percent this week.
President Vladimir Putin, in his state of the nation address on Thursday, instructed the central bank and the Finance Ministry to act together in fighting off speculators.
The currency is down almost 40 percent this year, hit by an oil price slump and Western sanctions. The central bank, which releases its intervention data with a two-day lag, said on Friday it had conducted $1.9 billion worth of interventions on Dec. 2.
"The fall in oil prices would point to the rouble at 50 to the dollar so, it's not far off. It has overshot a bit, but that's what happens when you have a big selloff.
Central bank interventions have introduced two-way risk into the market and I think there is a good chance we could see another significant rate hike of 100 basis points," said Neil Shearing, head of emerging market research at Capital Economics.
As Brent crude traded below $70, other oil currencies also fell. Nigeria's naira lost 0.5 percent against the dollar and Malaysia's ringgit 0.7 percent to hit a five-year low.
Emerging market stocks trod water with the MSCI Emerging equities index flat as investors waited for US jobs data later on Friday.
In China, however, Shanghai stocks gained 1.36 percent, marking its strongest weekly gain for five years, with investors betting the central bank is about to implement aggressive monetary easing to shore up growth.
"China's outlook for growth hasn't changed materially, but we have had a bit of easing.
It's a classic frenzy among retail investors driving the market higher and the market is looking a bit frothy," Shearing said.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia launched a $1 billion debut Eurobond with a term of 10 years and a yield of 6.625 percent on Thursday, attracting an initial order book worth more than $2.6 billion.
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