MOSCOW: Russia's rouble edged higher against the dollar and euro early on Thursday, helped by stronger global oil prices.
At 0800 GMT, the rouble was 0.3 percent stronger against the dollar at 76.44 and gained 0.5 percent to 83.00 versus the euro.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.5 percent at $30.5 a barrel.
The Russian currency had closed 0.4 percent stronger against the dollar on Wednesday, showing relative resiliance to the renewed falls in oil prices.
Brent touched another 12-year low on Thursday before staging a modest recovery. It dipped below $30 a barrel on Wednesday and again on Thursday after U.S. oil statistics showed large builds in gasoline and distillate stocks.
Maxim Korovin, a forex analyst at VTB Capital, said in a note that the rouble was "resisting headwinds", but added that its fortunes were also being driven by diminishing global appetite for risk.
"Emerging market risk sentiment also matters, so even if oil were to bounce up, the rouble would not diverge substantially from global FX peers," Korovin wrote.
Russia's end-of-month tax period begins on Friday. That should provide some support to the rouble as exporters convert a portion of their foreign-currency revenues into roubles to meet the payments.
Russian share indexes were little changed on Thursday, shrugging off big falls on Wall Street the previous day and generally weak performance on Asian markets on Thursday.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.1 percent to 693 points, while its rouble-based peer MICEX traded down 0.2 percent at 1,680 points.
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