MOSCOW: The rouble edged lower on Wednesday in early trade, following softer oil prices, but its decline was more gradual than in recent days ahead of a central bank meeting on Thursday at which the market expects decisive action to support the currency.
At 0725 GMT the rouble was down around 0.2 percent against the dollar at 54.15 and down 0.3 percent against the euro at 67.08.
Global oil benchmark Brent fell around 1 percent towards $66 a barrel but remained above a five-year low of $65.29 touched on Tuesday.
The Russian central bank said on Wednesday it had conducted $400 million worth of forex interventions on Monday, adding to $4.53 billion in interventions last week. "We think trading action is to remain subdued today, as in general market participants prefer to remain on the sidelines ahead of the central bank's policy meeting tomorrow," Maxim Korovin, a forex analyst at VTB Capital bank, said in a note.
"The general feeling is that the CBR needs to come up with a sizeable package of policy measures in order to address excessive FX volatility."
A Reuters poll on Tuesday predicted that the central bank would increase its main lending rate by one point to 10.5 percent in a bid to help the rouble.
The dollar-denominated RTS share index was up 1.6 percent to 871 points on Wednesday, after hitting another five-year low a day earlier, while its rouble-based peer MICEX was 1.5 percent higher at 1,497 points.
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