MOSCOW: The Russian rouble opened higher on Friday, recovering from heavy losses in the previous session caused by increased demand for the US dollar on many developing markets.
At 0721 GMT, the rouble was 0.56 percent stronger against the dollar at 65.09 and had gained 0.32 percent to trade at 71.06 versus the euro.
Most emerging markets currencies weakened on Thursday after the dollar firmed on growing expectations that the economic policy of the US President-elect Donald Trump will speed up the increase in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve.
"The prospects of rising borrowing costs are forcing many investors away from risky assets," Mark Bredford, an analyst at BCS investment house in Moscow wrote in a note.
But on Friday, the rouble was getting support from a relative calm on other emerging markets as well as from Russian exporters who used the spike in the dollar rate as an opportunity to convert forex revenues to pay monthly taxes.
According to a Reuters poll, Russian firms will pay around 1.3 trillion roubles ($19.94 billion) in levies by the end of November.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 0.2 percent at $45.75 a barrel.
Russian share indexes were mixed.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.25 percent to 991.3 points, while the rouble-based MICEX was 0.3 percent higher at 2050.9 points.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.