MOSCOW: The Russian rouble firmed sharply on Wednesday as oil prices rose on hopes that major producing countries would seal an agreement on freezing production.
At 1545 GMT, the rouble was 2.9 percent stronger against the dollar at 75.60 and was up 3 percent at 84.10 versus the euro.
Brent crude oil, Russia's main export, was up 5.4 percent at around $33.9 a barrel.
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh met his counterparts from Venezuela, Iraq and Qatar in Tehran for over two hours to discuss freezing production, following a preliminary deal involving Saudi Arabia and Russia a day earlier that was contingent on Iran's participation.
Oil prices and the rouble had tumbled on Tuesday as market hopes for an outright supply cut were dashed.
Iran's Zanganeh said after the meeting that he supported any effort to stabilise the market and that steps other than the Saudi-Russia agreement from Tuesday to keep output at January levels should be taken.
Zanganeh did not explicitly say in his remarks quoted by Shana that Iran would keep its own output at its January level, but they were enough to lift battered Brent prices and helping Russian assets.
Moscow-based analysts said oil was the main reason behind the rouble's gains, although exporters selling foreign currency for upcoming tax payments gave the currency a further boost.
"Against the backdrop of higher oil, the rouble has become interesting for investors," said Igor Akinshin at Alfa Bank.
Russian shares were also lifted by the gains in oil.
The rouble-based MICEX index closed up 0.9 percent higher at 1,770 points, while the dollar-denominated RTS index ended up 3.8 percent at 735 points.
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