The stock market also headed south, following its Asian and European peers, but was still on track to record its biggest monthly gain since October.

By 0745 GMT, the rouble eased 0.3 percent to 30.38 versus the dollar , heading away from its strongest since November of 30.20 hit last week.

Versus the euro, the rouble weakened 0.5 percent to 39.99,

also giving up 0.4 percent against the euro-dollar basket, floating at 34.70 , the frontier level of the central bank's interventions.

The central bank buys several hundred million dollars when the basket falls below 34.70 roubles and does not intervene the market in the range of 34.70-35.70.

"It's time for the basket to find a support level after its deep fall last week. The basket could stay at current levels or add 10-15 kopecks, watching closely the external environment," said Sergei Fishgoit, a dealer at Otkritie bank.

Dealers noted a weaker flow of conversion of foreign currencies from export-focused companies who have to pay income tax, the last monthly duty for January, by the end of the day.

Money market liquidity remained strained, with interbank overnight lending rates howevering at 5.75 percent, the strongest level since early 2010, and offering support to the Russian currency.

The dollar-based RTS stock index inched down 0.6 percent and the rouble-traded MICEX was down 0.25 percent, broadly in line with the emerging market index, which lost around 0.6 percent.

"From a technical point of view, the local market remains overbought, and to continue substantial growth it needs a retracement downwards," analysts at Alor brokerage said in a note.

Analysts at Nomos bank, however, suggested that investors could use current declines as a buying opportunity ahead of European Union summit in Brussels.

Shares in Russia's fast-growing retailer Magnit outpaced the broader market by rising 0.5 percent after the company reported at 20 percent increase in 2011 net profit.