MOSCOW: Russia's assets firmed on Wednesday, following the stabilisation of currency markets ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy review later in the day.
At 0722 GMT, the rouble was 0.3 percent stronger against the dollar at 65.95 and had also gained 0.3 percent to trade at 73.96 versus the euro.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 0.9 percent at $49.36 a barrel. But the broad emerging markets index traded 0.5 percent higher, breaking a steep decline and emerging market currencies gained, giving some stimulus for trading in Moscow.
Alexander Yegorov, an analyst at TeleTrade investment house in Moscow, wrote in a morning note that he anticipated the rouble to be trading within a range of 65.50-66.50 roubles per dollar in the first half of the day.
Analysts at Rosbank wrote in a note that with oil trading between $49-$51 per barrel, they reckoned the rouble should be at between 62.00-64.00 roubles per dollar.
"The rouble is undervalued by some 3-4 percent against the dollar," the analysts wrote. "Apparently, external uncertainty (possible tightening of the Fed's rhetoric and Brexit) is prevailing."
The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.2 percent at 901 points and the rouble-based MICEX was 0.1 percent higher at 1,888 points.
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