MOSCOW: The Russian rouble hovered near the 91 mark to the dollar in light holiday trade on Monday, holding on to the moderate gains made in the previous two sessions.
Market activity was limited as Russia has public holidays until Jan. 9.
At 0747 GMT, the rouble was 0.1% weaker against the dollar at 91.05 and was unchanged to trade at 99.62 versus the euro. It had firmed 0.1% against the yuan to 12.64.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, was down 1.1% at $77.93 a barrel.
Since October and the rouble’s most recent slide to 100 against the dollar, a presidential decree forcing exporters to convert some foreign currency revenue has supported the Russian currency, as have elevated interest rates, which were hiked to 16% last month.
The central bank said in late December it would sell 11.8 billion roubles ($129.6 million) of foreign currency a day, in addition to monthly operations it carries out on the finance ministry’s behalf, another measure buttressing the Russian currency.
Russian stock indexes were higher.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.2% to 1,090.0 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.5% higher at 3,150.9 points, at its strongest point since early December.
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