Rouble falls beyond 92 vs euro on lower oil and sanction fears

MOSCOW: The Russian rouble weakened on Tuesday under pressure from sliding oil prices amid intensified coronavirus fears and Russia-specific concerns related to new Western sanctions.

The rouble fell 0.8% to 75.40 against the dollar as of 0724 GMT, heading away from a near four-month high of 72.65 it hit last week.

Versus the euro, the rouble dropped 0.7% to 92.14 , its weakest level since Nov. 9.

The rouble has been on a recovery path since the US presidential election in early November but tumbled on Monday after Washington promised to retaliate over a massive hacking campaign that allegedly involved Russian hackers.

Adding to concerns about sanctions, usually harmful for Russian markets, the United States published a list of Russian companies with alleged military ties, restricting them from buying a wide range of US goods and technology.

In the negative scenario, the rouble could weaken to 76-77 versus the dollar this week, said Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Brokerage.

But if talks about penalties for Russia do not intensify, the rouble can firm to 74 versus the dollar, Kochetkov said.

"The situation on the energy market and the weakening of emerging market currencies will put pressure on the rouble," said Bogdan Zvarich, chief analyst at Promsvyazbank.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 1.7% at $50.05 a barrel as a new strain of the novel coronavirus in the United Kingdom triggered concerns over fuel demand recovery.

Russian stock indexes were mixed.

The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.2% higher at 3,192.0 points, recouping losses from the previous session and heading towards a life-time high of 3,318.39 hit last week.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.1% to 1,335.0 points.