Rouble weakens past 75 vs dollar, stocks fall ahead of May holidays

MOSCOW: The rouble weakened past 75 against the dollar on Friday, moving away from its April peaks, while stock indexes inched lower ahead of Russia's May holidays as oil prices fell.

At 1056 GMT, the rouble was 0.5% weaker against the dollar at 75.02, having slid away from its strongest level since March 22 of 74.19 it touched on Thursday.

Against the euro, the rouble eased 0.2% to 90.66 .

Sberbank CIB said the Russian currency could weaken "as many investors might take profits on long rouble positions after the recent rouble appreciation and ahead of the long May holiday in Russia next week."

Trading activity is waning and is likely to be thinner than usual next week when Russia's two largest stock exchanges will remain open and the central bank will carry out its regular market operations on May 4-7 despite President Vladimir Putin declaring those days non-working.

Although fears of imminent sanctions against Moscow has somewhat declined in the past weeks, the rouble still retains a visible geopolitical discount. In 2020, when oil prices hovered near current levels, the rouble was at around 61 versus the dollar and 68 to the euro.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 1.5% at $67.53 a barrel, paving the way for a decline in Russian stock indexes.

The dollar-denominated RTS index shed 1.3% to 1,491.3. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.5% lower at 3,553.0, not far from an all-time high of 3,627.91 it touched this week.

"There is simply no serious interest in the Russia equity products globally at this point," BCS Brokerage said.

Shares in the Moscow Exchange outperformed the market and climbed 1.5% on the day after Russia's largest bourse reported a 16% increase in first-quarter net profit.