The Russian rouble steadied on Wednesday ahead of two OFZ bond auctions by the finance ministry, stabilising after sliding late in the previous session, but still unable to strengthen meaningfully away from the 100 threshold to the dollar.
At 0719 GMT, the rouble was 0.1% firmer against the dollar at 96.76 and had lost 0.1% to trade at 103.34 versus the euro. It had strengthened 0.3% against the yuan to 13.22.
The Bank of Russia jacked up the cost of borrowing at a third meeting in succession last week in response to the weak rouble, which tumbled to a near 17-month low of 101.75 to the dollar in August.
Rate increases appear to have only had a limited effect so far.
President Vladimir Putin on Monday said the weakening rouble was one of the main inflation drivers and expressed confidence that the government and central bank would make timely decisions to manage the issue.
Authorities are discussing whether to reintroduce stringent currency controls to support the rouble, but central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina on Friday warned such steps were inefficient and would ultimately be circumvented.
The rouble is lacking stability, but increasing foreign exchange interventions by the central bank and an upcoming month-end tax period that usually sees exporters convert FX revenues to pay local liabilities should support the Russian currency, said Alor Broker’s Alexei Antonov.
“The current picture suggests that at the end of the month, after the end of tax payments, devaluation may resume,” said Antonov. Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, was down 1.1% at $93.34 a barrel.
It hit a more than 10-month high in the previous session. Russian stock indexes were at over one-month lows.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 1.7% to 986.4 points.
The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 1.8% lower at 3,029.7 points.
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