MOSCOW: The Russian rouble opened unchanged on Wednesday, supported by strong oil prices which offset the restart of the foreign currency purchases by the central bank.
At 0703 GMT, the rouble was 0.08 percent stronger against the dollar at 66.90 and up 0.13 percent at 76.31 versus the euro.
The Russian central bank halted forex purchases in August when the rouble was especially volatile and was set to resume them on Tuesday.
These operations, which will restore daily downside pressure on the rouble, are not expected to disrupt the market balance, according to Alexei Zabotkin, head of the central bank's monetary policy department.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.16 percent at $60.74 barrel.
Russian stock indexes were up.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.22 percent to 1,150.5 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.15 percent higher at 2,443.1 points.
Moscow-traded shares in Rusal were down 1.3 percent after the U.S. Senate voted to advance a resolution disapproving of a Trump administration plan to ease sanctions on Russian companies tied to oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
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