Russian rouble slips on declining oil price as vaccine rally wanes

MOSCOW: The Russian rouble weakened on Friday against a largely neutral external background, with oil price movements and the dynamics of coronavirus cases and health restrictions worldwide holding sway over Russian assets.

At 0739 GMT, the rouble was down 0.2pc against the dollar at 75.89, edging away from its highest mark in nearly 10 weeks of 75.3025, reached on Thursday.

It had lost 0.3pc to trade at 90.48 versus the euro.

"Today the Russian currency will receive some support from the weakening dollar, but traders will still pay more attention to oil dynamics," said Alor Broker analyst Alexei Antonov.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 0.3pc at $47.66 a barrel after climbing to its highest since early March on Thursday.

Trading volumes were likely to be lower, after markets in the United States were closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving.

Positive developments from COVID-19 vaccine developers in the last few weeks have supported risk appetite, but that news is already embedded in asset prices, according to Dmitry Polevoy, head of investment at Locko-Invest.

"The near-term outlook for risk assets will be determined by the balance of news on infections and mortality dynamics against the expectation of fiscal/monetary stimulus," he said.

Russia on Friday reported a record 27,543 new coronavirus infections, taking its national tally to 2,215,533.

Russian stock indexes were falling, slipping away from months-long peaks hit on Thursday.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 1pc to 1,293.9 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.7pc lower at 3,117.6 points.

The Moscow Exchange said on Friday it would be changing the weightings of the MOEX and RTS indexes from Dec. 18 when new securities would be added, including the depositary receipts of online retailer Ozon, following its successful New York debut earlier this week.