MOSCOW: The Russian rouble strengthened on Monday, recovering from a more than 10-month low against the dollar, as traders returned to the market following nationwide holidays and upcoming tax payments offered some support.
At 0821 GMT, the rouble was 0.7% stronger against the dollar at 75.58 and had gained 0.6% to trade at 79.86 versus the euro.
It had firmed 1.3% against the yuan to 10.83. Just over one year on from Russia sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, the rouble is back to levels seen before the conflict began.
It tumbled to a record low in March 2022 before climbing to multi-year highs last summer, supported by capital controls, plummeting imports and soaring energy revenues.
The rouble had ticked lower on Friday, with the market only open for limited trading as Russia marked a national holiday, and hit its weakest since April 22, 2022 at 76.4875 in early trade on Monday, before liquidity started to return.
“On Monday, the rouble is gradually recovering its position,” said Promsvyazbank analysts in a note.
“According to our estimates, during today’s trading the dollar/rouble pair will try to compensate for last week’s volatility by returning to the 75 mark.”
The Russian currency is expected to be in greater demand before month-end taxes are due on Feb. 28, when exporters typically convert their foreign currency revenue.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, was steady at $83.2 a barrel. Russian stock indexes were higher.
Russian rouble slides to 10-month low in light trade
The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 1.4% to 926.8 points.
The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.7% higher at 2,223.6 points.
Moscow-listed depositary receipts in online bank Tinkoff slumped more than 10% at the market open, before paring some losses to trade around 5% lower on the day.
In its 10th sanctions package, the European Union said it would disconnect Tinkoff from the global SWIFT payments system.
Moscow Exchange on Monday said it would begin futures trading of rouble pairs with the Turkish lira and Hong Kong dollar on the derivatives market from March 1, in response to growing client interest.
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