LONDON: The Russian rouble strengthened on Thursday, heading towards the 60 mark against the dollar, extending its recovery from July lows hit the previous day after the Kremlin ordered a partial military mobilisation.

At 0720 GMT, the rouble was 0.7% stronger against the dollar at 60.30 and had gained 1.45% to trade at 59.30 versus the euro.

It had firmed 1.4% against the yuan to 8.460.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, was up 0.98% at $90.73 a barrel, helping to prop up Russian stock indexes.

BCS Global Markets analyst Artem Lavrishchev said that Russia’s share market was likely to further consolidate at its current level.

Russian rouble up slightly amid dollar liquidity fears

The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 3.82% to 1148.040 points.

The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 2.67% higher at 2188.24 points.