Russian rouble falls towards three-month lows

MOSCOW: The Russian rouble weakened on Tuesday after its biggest one-day gain in 10 weeks as it came under pressure from lower oil prices and risk aversion that is typical for August, a month notorious for unfortunate events in Russia.

The rouble shed 0.5pc to 73.49 against the dollar as of 0752 GMT, heading towards a three-month low of 74.68 it hit the day before.

"August has been long labelled a special month for Russia when the rouble traditionally loses its positions - in the past 15 years, the rouble depreciated in August 73pc of the time," said Renaissance Capital.

In August 1999, Russia started the so-called Second Chechen War in the breakaway Caucasus region. The next year, Russian submarine Kursk sank in the Barents sea, killing all 118 people on board.

In August 2008, the rouble weakened when Russia got into a short-lived war with Georgia, and in 2014, lower oil prices and Western sanctions against Moscow battered the currency.

The rouble also feels downside pressure from some recovery in imports, concerns about a second wave of coronavirus and an expected increase in demand for foreign currency as Russia opens its borders, RenCap said.

The rouble can head towards 74 against the greenback amid remaining geopolitical risks and the globally stronger dollar, Sberbank CIB said.

Against the euro, the rouble fell 0.8pc to 86.71.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 1.2pc at $43.63 a barrel, putting pressure on Russian stock indexes.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.2pc to 1,254.6 points.

The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was steady on the day at 2,931.1 points.