MOSCOW: The Russian rouble strengthened against the dollar on Monday, regaining some of the ground lost late last week, under pressure at the start of the month as exporters reduced the supply of foreign currency.
At 0713 GMT, the rouble was 0.3% stronger against the dollar at 91.38 and had lost 0.3% to trade at 99.16 versus the euro. It had firmed 0.2% against the yuan to 12.64.
The rouble could weaken towards 92.5 against the dollar, having now lost the support of month-end tax payments that usually see exporters convert foreign currency revenue to pay local liabilities, said Bogdan Zvarich of Banki.ru.
The Russian currency had strengthened to 90.5 late last week before depreciating.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, was down 0.1% at $83.47 a barrel.
Russian stock indexes were higher.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.9% to 1,132.6 points.
The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.6% higher at 3,285.9 points.