MOSCOW: The Russian rouble eased slightly on Tuesday, showing strong resilience to a recent sell-off in oil, one of its key drivers.
As of 0820, the rouble shed 0.2 percent to 56.68 against the dollar, trading at levels seen over the past two weeks, while Brent crude prices lost 0.6 percent to $49.2 per barrel, approaching levels seen in early May.
Oil prices took a hit from a political rift between Qatar and several Arab states that analysts say could undermine efforts by OPEC to tighten the market.
The rouble also shrugged off the finance ministry's announcement that it would step up buying of foreign currency on the domestic market by more than fivefold in June.
The market lacks new trading ideas, especially after a much-awaited economic forum in St Petersburg failed to present a clearer view on reforms that Russia is preparing to go through.
After President Vladimir Putin set out his ideas for the economy in a keynote speech last Friday, economic thinkers are still waiting to hear what that action will be.
While prices for oil stay low, the rouble may also partly lose support from tight monetary policy. The central bank's Chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina said this week the key rate could be trimmed to 8.75 percent as soon as next week.
Against the euro, the rouble eased 0.1 percent to 63.76 .
Russian stock indexes also inched lower. The dollar-denominated RTS index went down 0.4 percent to 1,039.9 points, while the rouble-based MICEX was 0.3 percent lower at 1,871.5 points.
Russian business conglomerate Sistema underperformed the market, losing around 5 percent after gaining 6 percent the day before. Sistema share showed increased volatility in the past few days as the company revealed its financial earnings amid a pending lawsuit from Russia's oil giant Rosneft.
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