MOSCOW: The Russian rouble was little changed at Friday's opening, with investors unwilling to make strong moves ahead of the central bank's rate decision due later in the day.
There was a small rebound in Moscow stocks, supported by relatively strong commodity prices and slight optimism from global investors.
At 0700 GMT, the rouble was unchanged against the dollar at 31.00 and against the euro at 40.33.
It was stable at 35.19 versus the dollar-euro basket which the central bank uses as guidance of the rouble's nominal rate.
Although most analysts polled by Reuters expect the central bank to take a pause from raising rates this month, there has been increased market speculation that the bank may raise deposit rates.
"If the Central Bank raises deposit rates, the rouble might appreciate against the basket of currencies by 10 kopecks, as it increases the attractiveness of rouble carry-trade operations," Andrew Mishko of Nomos-Bank said.
Stocks saw some gains on Friday, buoyed by improvement in global sentiment after the US markets closed Thursday with gains.
The benchmark RTS index was up 1.1 percent at 1,498.69 points, while its rouble-traded peer MICEX was up 1.0 percent at 1,471.38 points.
Oil slipped slightly during the morning, but Brent crude stayed around $112 per barrel, after a strong bounce the previous session.
"This will help the Russian market this morning," analysts at Uralsib wrote in a note.
News that Russia-dedicated funds in the week through to Wednesday recorded inflows of $172.6 million - the second largest weekly inflow since the end of March, according to recent tracking data from EPFR Global - should also help, Uralsib analysts said.
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