Markets

Russian rouble weakens on softening oil price

Rouble slips agains the dollar and euro as Brent crude oil falls by more than 1%

An employee changes figures on a board showing currency exchange rates in Moscow. A weaker oil price is putting pressure on the rouble. (Photograph: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)

Mon Dec 8 2014 - 08:11

The Russian rouble fell on Monday, following a weaker oil price and after strong gains in the Russian currency on Friday.

At 0705 GMT, the rouble was 1.5 per cent down against the dollar at 53.30, and 1.2 per cent down at 65.45 against the euro.

The price for Brent crude was down more than 1 per cent at 68.33.

On Friday, the rouble closed up 3 per cent against the dollar. This was linked to central bank interventions to support it, traders said, but there was little sign of more interventions so far on Monday. The central bank said on Monday it had not carried out any interventions on Thursday. The bank releases interventions data with a two-day delay. This follows $700 million in interventions last Monday and $1.9 billion on Wednesday.

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Russian stock indexes were mixed. The rouble-based MICEX index was up 0.3 per cent to 1,534 points, while the dollar-based RTS was down 0.2 per cent to 907.

Reuters

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