MOSCOW: The Russian rouble gained against the dollar on Monday despite a decline in the oil prices, after new tariffs imposed by the Washington and Beijing came into force.
At 0720 GMT, the rouble was 0.2% stronger against the dollar at 66.63, up from a six-month low of 67.11 touched in August. It gained 0.2% against the euro to trade at 73.19.
This week, investors will watch the Russian central bank that will hold its monetary policy meeting on Friday. The bank is widely expected to trim its key interest rate, now at 7.25%.
Looking further, the rouble has room to recover this month after a steep fall in August, analysts said.
"Our USD/RUB model suggests that the rouble's reaction to the weakening of global risk-sentiment in August was excessive," VTB Capital said in a note.
Analysts from Freedom Finance brokerage expect the rouble to trade in a range of 66.20 to 67.25 against the dollar in the near future.
The global market continued to focus on the trade war between the United States and China. Washington began imposing 15% tariffs on a variety of Chinese goods on Sunday, putting pressure on prices for oil, Russia's main export.
Brent crude oil was down 0.15% at $59.16 a barrel.
Russian stock indexes were mixed. The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.1% to 1,294 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.1% lower at 2,738 points.
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