MOSCOW: The Russian rouble firmed slightly towards 58 to the dollar and the euro on Thursday, lacking momentum but retaining support from Russia’s strong current account surplus and the upcoming tax payment period.

The rouble is set to see extra support later this month asexport-focused companies usually step up conversion of their forex revenues to meet local liabilities. Tax payments start on Friday and the bulk of payments are due in the last week of July.

At 0748 GMT, the rouble was 0.3% stronger against the dollarat 58.07 and had gained 1.5% to trade at 58.22 versus the euro on the Moscow Exchange.

The rouble is expected to reach the 56-58 range to the dollar as there are no clear factors able to reverse the trend for the stronger rouble, Promsvyazbank analysts said in a note.

Russian rouble firms, shrugging off lower oil; stocks down

The rouble became the world’s best-performing currency this year, boosted by measures - including restrictions on Russian households withdrawing foreign currency savings - designed to shield Russia’s financial system from Western sanctions imposed after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The currency has also benefited from soaring proceeds from commodity exports and a sharp drop in imports that helped to more than triple Russia’s current account surplus in the first half of 2022 to $138.5 billion.

On the stock market, the dollar-denominated RTS index rose 1.1% to 1,132.2 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.7% higher at 2,088.7 points after hitting 2,063.23, its lowest since Feb. 24.