MOSCOW: The Russian rouble and shares opened lower on Tuesday, the first day of trading after a long holiday weekend, absorbing lower oil prices and negative trends on global markets.
At 0732 GMT, the rouble was 1.1 percent weaker against the dollar at 66.03 and had lost 1.2 percent to trade at 74.32 versus the euro.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 2.4 percent to 902 points, while the rouble-based MICEX was 0.7 percent lower at 1,890 points, tracking declines on other emerging markets.
Emerging market stocks saw their biggest fall since February on Monday as anxiety grew ahead of a referendum on Britain's potential exit from the European Union and a U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 1.3 percent at $49.68 a barrel on Tuesday.
"At the beginning of the new trading week, the Russian market has no other option but to decline," Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, wrote in a morning note.
"Brent has fallen bellow $50 (per barrel), pessimism prevails on external markets. Accordingly, there are no reasons for strengthening of the rouble, which will be heading towards 67-68 per dollar."
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