Russian rouble regains some ground lost in ‘autumn slide’

MOSCOW: The Russian rouble strengthened further on Friday after rallying by 1.2% against China’s yuan in the previous session but remained at one-year lows against all major currencies following a slide in recent weeks.

At 0800 GMT, the rouble was up 0.5% against the yuan at 13.55, according to LSEG data. In trade on the Moscow Stock Exchange (MOEX), the rouble was up 0.51% at 13.48 to the yuan.

The rouble was up 0.5% at 96.10 against the dollar, LSEG data showed. The Russian currency lost about 15% between Sept. 6 and Oct. 10 against major currencies in what some analysts have called an “autumn slide”.

Analysts pointed to several factors behind the rouble’s weakness, including the Oct. 12 expiry of a license from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) which allowed commercial banks to deal with MOEX.

The license was issued to allow banks to wind down operations with MOEX after Western sanctions on the exchange and its clearing agent, the National Clearing Centre, were introduced on June 12.

The sanctions stopped all trade in dollars and euros at MOEX, making China’s yuan the most traded foreign currency in Russia.