Rouble retreats from near one-week high as oil prices slip

MOSCOW: The Russian rouble opened weaker on Friday, hurt by falling oil prices and limited risk appetite as rising COVID-19 cases in China raised investor concerns for the global economic recovery.

At 0727 GMT, the rouble was 0.5% weaker against the dollar at 73.56, retreating from its highest mark since Jan. 4 of 73.1025, hit in the previous session.

It had lost 0.3% to trade at 89.29 versus the euro.

Weakening risk appetite could see the rouble return to around 74 against the greenback and 90 versus the euro, said Veles Capital analyst Elena Kozhukhova.

One support for markets was US President-elect Joe Biden saying bold investment was needed to jump-start the economy and accelerate the distribution of vaccines to bring the coronavirus under control, as he outlined a $1.9 trillion stimulus package proposal on Thursday.

The pandemic remains an acute concern. More than 28 million people are under lockdown in China. On Friday it reported the highest number of new COVID-19 cases in more than 10 months.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 1.3% at $55.68 a barrel, hampering Russian stock indexes.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.4% to 1,495.1 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was steady at 3,490.2 points.

Shares in Sberbank were down 0.6% after it reported a 7.7% year-on-year fall in net profit in 2020 under Russian accounting standards.