MOSCOW: The rouble opened stronger on Monday, capitalising on rising oil prices and disregarding Russia's parliamentary vote results showing that President Vladimir Putin-backed party will keep on ruling.
At 0734 GMT, the rouble was 0.4 percent stronger against the dollar at 64.90 and gained 0.3 percent to trade at 72.43 versus the euro.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 1.4 percent at $46.42 a barrel.
The results of Russia's parliamentary vote on Sunday show that the United Russia ruling party will have an overwhelming majority in the new parliament, as had been broadly expected.
The only worry, analysts say, comes from earlier market rumours that the rouble had been artificially supported before the election.
"The coming week is going to be the 'after the elections' period," analysts at ForexClub wrote in a research note. "The market might get nervous that the rouble will be let go after it had been kept stable so as not to escalate the situation before the vote."
But most analysts agreed that the Russian currency would be chiefly driven by external factors - the price of oil and dollar fate.
"Increasing probability of a rise in the U.S. interest rates and the strengthening of the dollar have been impacting markets and the currencies of developing countries, including the rouble," analysts at TeleTrade wrote in a note.
Russian share indexes were also higher.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.4 percent to 965 points, while the rouble-based MICEX was 0.4 percent higher at 1,999 points.
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