Russian rouble steadies near 97 vs dollar after emergency rate hike

The Russian rouble steadied near 97 to the dollar on Wednesday, one day after the central bank hiked interest rates to 12% at an emergency meeting and amid speculation over what other steps Russia may take to prop up its struggling currency.

Tuesday’s extraordinary rate meeting and 350-basis-point key rate increase came in response to the rouble plummeting past the symbolic 100 threshold against the dollar at the start of the week and a public call from the Kremlin for tighter monetary policy.

By 0715 GMT, the rouble was 0.1% weaker against the dollar at 97.17.

It had lost 0.2% to trade at 106.17 versus the euro and shed 0.2% against the yuan to 13.28.

This week has seen some of the rouble’s most volatile trading all year.

It reached a near 17-month low of 101.75 on Monday and briefly traded at 92.60 on Tuesday morning, before closing at 97.09.

The rate hike, though stopping the rot, will likely not be enough to halt the rouble’s slide, Western and Russian analysts generally agreed on Tuesday.

Bloomberg reported late on Tuesday that discussions about a resumption of capital controls were underway, but no breakthrough had been made.

The news supported the rouble late in the session. Russia’s Interfax news agency on Wednesday cited three unnamed sources as saying that the mandated conversion of up to 90% of exporters’ foreign currency earnings was under discussion.

A similar measure was adopted to stabilise financial markets shortly after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, was down 0.2% at $84.75 a barrel.

Russian stock indexes, in volatile trade for several sessions, were mixed.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.1% to 1,009.1 points.

The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was steady at 3,115.8 points.

“The positive reaction to the rate revision by the Bank of Russia was replaced with a correction, linked to regulator’s tighter rhetoric and expectations of capital control measures,” Sinara Investment Bank said in a note.