Russian rouble slips with oil as support from Putin-Trump meeting fades

MOSCOW: The Russian rouble declined with the oil price on Tuesday after strengthening a day earlier due to support from a first summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.

At 0720 GMT, the rouble was 0.2 percent weaker against the dollar at 62.48 and had lost 0.4 percent to trade at 73.29 versus the euro.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 0.2 percent at $71.67 a barrel. Oil prices are falling for a second day on Tuesday as worries about possible disruptions to supply eased and investors focused on potential damage to global growth from the Sino-U.S. trade spat.

Putin and Trump met in Finland's capital Helsinki on Monday. Trump said he saw no reason to believe Russia had hacked the 2016 U.S. presidential election to help him win, and Putin "was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today".

Some analysts said the talks gave the market the general impression that there would be no immediate political changes or moves.

"Although a breakthrough did not happen, there were no unpleasant surprises," said Sergey Romanchuk, chief trader at Metallinvestbank in Moscow. "The positive (fact) is that the contact took place and did not bring in any negative."

However, the fact that the dialogue has started gave hope for a subsequent dialogue and the easing of rhetoric of toughening sanctions against Russia, said Evgeny Koshelev, an analyst at Rosbank.

Russian stock indexes also fell on Tuesday.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 1.25 percent to 1,165.49 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index  was 1.0 percent lower at 2,310.20 points.