Russian rouble steadies near 84 against dollar

The rouble weakened around 2% against the dollar last week, blighted by volatile swings in a low liquidity market.

The Russian rouble steadied near 84 against the dollar in a relatively narrow trading range on Tuesday, taking stock of a small rise in oil prices and lingering geopolitical risks while awaiting an uptick in the supply of foreign currency.

At 0723 GMT, the rouble was steady against the dollar at 84.11 and had lost 0.1 per cent to trade at 91.93 versus the euro. It had firmed 0.1 per cent against the yuan to 11.72.

The rouble weakened around 2 per cent against the dollar last week, blighted by volatile swings in a low liquidity market, eliciting comments on the rouble rate from senior officials, who suggested that an exchange rate of 80-90 per dollar was preferable.

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The rouble should soon gain support from a month-end tax period that usually sees exporters convert foreign exchange revenues to pay local liabilities.

"It seems that the tax period will not noticeably strengthen the rouble, but only slow down its devaluation," said Alor Broker in a note. "After the end of the tax season, upward momentum in the dollar-rouble pair cannot be ruled out."

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.4 per cent at $76.40 a barrel.

Russian stock indexes were lower.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.1 per cent to 1,052.9 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.1 per cent higher at 2,811.2 points, slightly down from the more than 14-month high hit on Monday.