UPDATE 1-Russian rouble slides to two-week low near 61 vs dollar

Alexander Marrow
·2 min read

*

This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine

(Updates prices, adds SberCIB comment)

By Alexander Marrow

MOSCOW, Oct 6 (Reuters) - The rouble fell to a two-week low near 61 to the dollar on Thursday, as a European Union plan for a price cap on Russian oil heightened risks that Russia's foreign currency inflows may decrease.

The Russian currency strengthened sharply late last week on fears that the latest round of Western sanctions may target Moscow Exchange's National Clearing Centre and restrict dollar and euro trading in Moscow.

Those fears, which pushed the rouble to a near eight-year high against the euro and sparked wild volatility in the currency, appear to have subsided for now.

By 1459 GMT, the rouble was 0.9% weaker against the dollar at 60.68, earlier coming within a whisker of the 61 mark.

It was 0.6% weaker at 58.73 versus the euro, falling to its lowest mark since Sept. 22 of 59.2375 earlier in the session. The rouble firmed 0.2% against the yuan to 8.56 .

"Demand for hard currency has been supported by the fact that no strict financial sanctions have been announced, which means market participants are still able to pay off their external debt and transfer currency abroad," said SberCIB Investment Research.

"Contributing to the weakness of the rouble against the dollar, euro and yuan, was the continuing low activity by exporters, as well as heightened market uncertainty," said Promsvyazbank analysts in a note.

Export-focused firms usually convert their FX revenues to roubles when local liabilities need paying. Russia's main tax period falls towards the end of the month.

The European Union's latest sanctions package stopped short of seeking to restrict Moscow FX trading, but did include an oil price cap for Russian seaborne crude deliveries to third countries through European insurers.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 1% at $94.3 a barrel, after a group of major producing countries, including Russia, announced their largest supply cut since 2020 ahead of European Union embargoes on Russian energy.

Russian stock indexes were falling.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 1.3% to 1,048.0 points, a near one-week low. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.5% lower at 2,019.4 points. (Reporting by Alexander Marrow; editing by Christian Schmollinger and Ed Osmond)

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • Jennie Bond reflects on 'terribly sad' Jill Dando murder 25 years on

    Loose Women guest Jennie Bond has shared her devastation on the 25th anniversary of her friend Jill Dando's murder.

  • UPDATE 1-Fed seen on track for Sept start to US rate cuts

    U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers sifting through the latest inflation data will find little to fuel a sense of urgency to cut interest rates, but also nothing to rule out the likelihood of rate reductions starting later this year. That was the view from financial markets and analysts following a government report on Friday that showed inflation rose last month largely in line with economist expectations, and with what Fed officials themselves had said they anticipated. Core PCE, a measure of underlying inflation, came in at 2.8%, the same as February.

  • Ukraine withdraws Abrams tanks from front line amid barrage of drone attacks

    Ukraine has quietly withdrawn its American Abrams tanks from the front line to avoid the growing threat from Russian drones.

  • Jerry Seinfeld's commitment to the bit

    NEW YORK (AP) — Jerry Seinfeld has been responsible for more movies than you think. Yes, he co-wrote and lent his voice to 2007's “Bee Movie." But before that, “Seinfeld” — where going to the movies, with or without the aid of Moviefone, was nearly as regular a destination as the coffee shop — gave birth to dozens of (fake) films. “Rochelle, Rochelle." “Prognosis Negative.” “Sack Lunch." But nearly three decades after Seinfeld was, in one episode, cajoled into bootlegging “Death Blow," he has fi

  • Deutsche Bank names new head of FX for Europe in London

    Deutsche Bank has named Oliver Jerome as head of European foreign exchange in London as the lender boosts its forex desks, according to a note sent internally. Jerome has held similar roles at JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley and was recently one of the founders of a technology company active in foreign exchange. At Deutsche Bank, he will report to Sameen Farooqui, co-head of global foreign exchange, and Panos Stergiou, head of institutional client group.

  • Q3 2024 KLA Corp Earnings Call

    Q3 2024 KLA Corp Earnings Call

  • World first jab to stop skin cancer trialled in UK - Tech & Science Daily podcast

    All the stories from Friday’s episode of the Tech & Science Daily podcast.

  • Rylan Griffen, member of Alabama’s Final Four team, will transfer to Kansas Jayhawks

    The Kansas basketball team has landed another transfer. He played in last year’s Final Four.

  • London travel news LIVE: Tube stations forced to shut as 24-hour strike hits the Underground

    Several London Underground stations are closed due to workers striking while two Tube lines were halted because of a casualty on the track. Transport for London said three stations were closed on the network at midday on Friday due to the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association action. The union said the action was likely to cause Tube stations to close at the last minute, including into Saturday morning, but Transport for London said there will not be significant disruption.

  • Microsoft beats Q3 top and bottom lines on cloud strength

    Microsoft reported better than anticipated Q3 earnings on Thursday, powered by growth in its cloud products.

  • Bad News On World Penguin Day: Reduced Sea Ice Kills Emperor Penguin Chicks

    Record low levels of Antarctic sea-ice in late 2023 have resulted in breeding failures in a fifth of the continent’s emperor penguin colonies according to research released by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) on World Penguin Day on 25 April 2024. With 14 of 66 colonies and tens of thousands of penguins affected, the finding is not as severe as the 2022 season, in which 19 colonies — almost 30% — were impacted but there is an increasing trend of colonies losing chicks as a result of ice-loss before the end of the breeding cycle with 2023 the second worst year since the observations began in 2018. Emperor penguins breed and raise their chicks on land-fast sea ice – stable sea ice that is firmly attached to the shore. If this ice breaks up too early, the chicks go into the sea before they grow their waterproof feathers — known as fledging. This leads to high, or sometimes total, chick mortality at the colony. Several colonies that were badly affected in 2022 also showed adaptations with some moving home to find more stable ice and some breeding on icebergs or ice shelves - raising hope for the future. Despite this, current predictions suggest that in scenarios in which greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at current levels the population of emperor penguins will fall by 99% by the end of the century, leading to the virtual extinction of this beautiful animal.

  • Nuno Espirito Santo says referees ‘not taking their own decisions’ due to VAR

    Forest are in the middle of a storm following their heavy-handed statement questioning the officiating in their 2-0 defeat at Everton.

  • Dow Jones Rises After Inflation Data; Tesla Slides On Probe Into Autopilot Recall

    Stock Market Today: The Dow Jones rose Friday on key inflation data. Tech titans Google and Microsoft surged on earnings.

  • Ukraine pushes to get military-age men to come home. Some neighboring countries say they will help

    Ukraine’s foreign minister doubled down Friday on the government’s move to bolster the pool of fighting forces by cutting off consular services to conscription-age men outside the country, saying it was a question of "justice.” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the policy would ensure men in Ukraine and those who have left were both treated fairly. “It’s about justice -- justice in the relationship between Ukrainian men abroad and Ukrainian men inside of Ukraine,” he said.

  • Suspected Serial Killer Kept Bones of 6 Women in His Room, Prosecutor Says

    Authorities allegedly found blood, a saw, cell phones and the ID cards of missing women in rooms rented by the murder suspect

  • Bills fans had meltdown after team allowed Chiefs to trade up, get Xavier Worthy

    It’s safe to say Buffalo Bills fans were not happy about the trade with the Chiefs during the first round of the NFL Draft.

  • Nine in court charged in connection with teenagers’ fatal stabbing

    Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, died after an incident in Bristol in January.

  • Did Chris Philp confuse Rwanda and Congo on Question Time?

    The policing minister appeared to ask an audience member if Rwanda and Congo were different countries.

  • March Inflation Data Will Keep Fed Interest Rates on Hold

    March data released Friday confirmed the Federal Reserve still has more work ahead to slow the pace of inflation. In the previous three months, the PCE price index rose less than 0.1% on average. The annual increase in inflation has come in between 2.4% and 2.6% for four straight months through March, versus the Fed’s 2% target.

  • Andrew Tate's trial on charges of rape and human trafficking can start, a Romanian court rules

    BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A court in Romania’s capital on Friday ruled that a trial can start in the case of influencer Andrew Tate, who is charged with human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. The Bucharest Tribunal ruled that prosecutors’ case file against Tate met the legal criteria but did not set a date for the trial to begin. Tate’s spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu, said the ruling will be appealed. Tate, 37, was arrested in December 2022 near Bucharest a