The Russian rouble edged higher Monday morning, shrugging off a weaker oil price as markets expected President Vladimir Putin's visit to the United States to improve relations with the West. At 0730 GMT, the rouble was 0.1 percent stronger against the dollar at 65.44 and up 0.4 percent to 73.14 versus the euro. The rouble strengthened even though Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 0.9 percent at $48.2 a barrel.
Later today Putin will address the United Nations General Assembly and meet his US counterpart Barack Obama. Putin is expected to focus his attention on the war in Syria, where Russia and the West have a common interest in fighting Islamic State but are at odds over the future of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. "A source of additional support for the Russian currency is the political 'premium'," Rosbank analysts said in a note.
"Most political experts suppose that the Russian side may offer concessions on the Syrian question in exchange for concessions on Ukraine." The rouble also gained some temporary support from conversions to pay profit tax, which fell due on Monday following Mineral Extraction Tax on Friday. Russian share indexes were barely changed. The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.1 percent at 789 points, while the rouble-based MICEX was flat at 1,640 points.
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