MOSCOW: The Russian rouble fell again on Wednesday, moving towards its weakest point since mid-2021 under pressure from geopolitical woes, while higher oil prices helped stock indexes pare recent losses.
At 0715 GMT, the rouble was 0.4% weaker against the dollar at 74.59, heading towards its weakest since July 8 of 75.2925 it hit on Tuesday.
Versus the euro, the rouble eased 0.5% 83.97 versus the euro.
The rouble slipped from a multi-month peak of 69.21 versus the greenback hit in late October as it has come under selling pressure on Western concerns over possible Russian military intervention in Ukraine.
Russia has dismissed such suggestions as inflammatory and complained about increasing activity in the region by the NATO military alliance but likened the situation in Ukraine to the lead-up to the war in Georgia in 2008.
"For now, all depends on geopolitical news ... If this topic drops from front pages, even if just temporarily, markets will have chances to continue recovering," Evgeniy Suvorov, an economist at CentroCreditBank, said on his Telegram channel MMI.
On the domestic front, the rouble retains support from economic fundamentals, such as a strong current account surplus.
The rouble also received support from export-focused companies that were selling foreign exchange before the mineral extraction tax was due to be paid on Thursday, VTB Capital said.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.3% at $82.57 a barrel, extending gains after a move by the United States and other consumer nations to release tens of millions of barrels of oil from reserves to try to cool the market fell short of some expectations.
Russian stock indexes were up.
The dollar-denominated RTS index rose 1.6% to 1,688.6 points.
The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.9% higher at 3,996.2 points, moving towards the 4,000 threshold it fell below on Monday.
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