MOSCOW: The Russian rouble strengthened on Wednesday ahead of a long holiday weekend in Russia with forex purchases for state reserves and government bond auctions in focus.
At 0735 GMT, the rouble was 0.24 percent stronger against the dollar at 65.25 and had gained 0.04 percent to trade at 73.12 versus the euro.
With the Moscow Exchange closed and many taders away from their desks on several days between May 1 and May 13, trading has been, and is set to remain, subdued. Markets will be closed on Thursday for Victory Day with many market participants taking a long weekend.
The rouble was supported by higher oil prices, with Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, up 0.27 percent at $70.05 a barrel.
The announcement of the foreign exchange purchases for state reserves by the finance ministry, due at 0900 GMT, is in focus on Wednesday.
A Reuters poll on Monday showed that Russia would increase its forex purchases and buy 350 billion roubles ($5.37 billion) worth of foreign exchange in regular purchases on the open market from May 14 to June 6.
The market is also waiting for the results of two auctions of government bonds, known as OFZ. Analysts from Rosbank expect there will be demand for both bonds.
Mikhail Poddubsky, an analyst at Promsvyazbank, said he expected the rouble to be in a 65-65.50 per dollar range on Wednesday. "The further dynamics of the rouble primarily depends on the appetite for risk on global markets," he said.
High-level negotiations between China and the United States over the next two days are the focus of global investors as Beijing tries to avoid a sharp increase in U.S. tariffs on its goods scheduled to take effect from Friday.
Russian stock indexes were lower with the dollar-denominated RTS down 0.15 percent to 1,235.95 points and the rouble-based MOEX 0.2 percent lower at 2,560.95 points.
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