MOSCOW: The Russian rouble fell from its three-month high against the dollar on Friday, hurt by larger forex purchases by the central bank and data raising concern over China's economic slowdown.
At 0730 GMT, the rouble was 0.5 percent weaker against the dollar at 65.72, moving away from the 65.16 it reached on Thursday, and had lost 0.5 percent to trade at 75.21 versus the euro.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was steady at $60.93 a barrel over hopes the United States and China could soon settle their trade disputes and new data raising concerns over China's economic slowdown.
The rouble was also under downward pressure from the central bank's decision to begin carrying out forex purchases on Friday after a five-month hiatus, in addition to its daily forex purchases.
The central bank halted forex purchases in August 2018 when the rouble was volatile but resumed them last month.
Russian stock indexes were lower. The dollar-denominated RTS index, which reached a record high this week, was down 0.62 percent to 1,206.95 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.15 percent lower at 2,517.34 points.
Analysts said the Russian stock market's records this week were tied to general trends rather than internal policies.
"The growth of the Russian market is not an internal affair," Vasily Karpunin of Russian broker BCS said in a note.
"The inflows of funds to emerging markets are being recorded throughout the world, so the (Russian market's) rally is largely a reflection of a general trend."
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