MOSCOW: The Russian rouble fell on Tuesday, hurt by a falling oil price and bearish sentiment on global markets.
At 0720 GMT, the rouble was 0.7 percent weaker against the dollar at 77.87 and had lost 0.8 percent to 84.90 versus the euro.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 1.2 percent at $33.8 a barrel.
The Russian currency was heading for its second day of losses after strong gains last week on hopes of a co-ordinated output cut by OPEC and Russia.
By Monday, however, those hopes had started to fade, and worries over the health of the Chinese economy took centre stage.
"Oil remains the key driver for the rouble, but in the absence of fresh positive newsflow the momentum on the oil market is gradually fading," Maxim Korovin at VTB Capital said in a note.
Venezuela's oil minister, Eulogio del Pino, was in Moscow on Monday and Tuesday for talks with senior Russian oil officials.
On Monday talks with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak appeared to yield little in the way of a breakthrough on potential co-ordination between OPEC and Russia.
Del Pino was due to meet the head of Russian oil major Rosneft, Igor Sechin, on Tuesday for further talks.
Russian share indexes were mixed on Tuesday, largely reflecting moves in the currency.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 1.7 percent to 718 points, while the rouble-based MICEX was 0.1 percent higher at 1,775 points.
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