MOSCOW: The Russian rouble edged up on Tuesday, supported by a rise in the oil price, but with investors cautious ahead of central bank meetings in Russia and abroad.
At 0745 GMT, the rouble was 0.4 percent stronger against the dollar at 66.33 and had gained 0.4 percent to 74.97 versus the euro.
Brent crude, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.5 percent at $44.7 a barrel.
Analysts at Rosbank said that activity on the forex market was falling ahead of meetings of the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of Russia this week.
They said they didn't see reasons for the rouble to weaken, as the Fed is expected to maintain dovish rhetoric while the Bank of Russia is expected to maintain moderately tight policy.
Nearly all analysts polled by Reuters on Monday predicted the Bank of Russia would hold its main lending rate at 11 percent when it meets on Friday.
"The meeting of the Bank of Russia on interest rates adds a drop of uncertainty, because the position of the regulator isn't completely clear," Forex Club analyst Alena Afanasieva said in a note.
Russian share indexes slipped.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.2 percent to 926 points, while the rouble-based MICEX was 0.4 percent lower at 1,948 points.
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