MOSCOW: The rouble hit a five-month high against the dollar on Tuesday after pro-Russian separatist leaders in Ukraine's east agreed to observe a ceasefire with Ukrainian forces and as Russian firms prepared to pay their monthly taxes.
At 0700 GMT the rouble was 0.39 percent firmer at 33.99 against the dollar, after touching a high of 33.92. It last reached that level on Jan. 22.
Russian shares, meanwhile, also rose on the ceasefire, which was agreed late on Monday and will be in place until Friday morning, enabling peace talks to proceed.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 1.4 percent at 1,388 points at 0715 GMT, while the rouble-traded MICEX added 0.8 percent to 1,498 points.
"News about the de-escalation of the conflict should be taken well by market participants," Grigory Birg, an analyst at Investcafe said in a note.
"First of all because US and EU representatives had threatened Russia with a new package of sanctions if Moscow didn't help implement the Ukrainian president's plan to regulate the conflict." Also supporting the rouble, Russian exporters are converting foreign currency into roubles to pay the mineral extraction tax (MET) to the state budget due on Wednesday.
Against the euro, the rouble was up 0.33 percent at 46.25 after also touching a five-month high.
It was 0.38 percent firmer at 39.51 against the rouble-dollar basket the central bank uses to guide the rouble's nominal exchange rate.
In corporate news, US healthcare company Abbott Laboratories said it had agreed to buy Russian drugmaker Veropharm in a deal valued at up to $500 million.
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