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coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine
(Updates prices)
By Alexander Marrow
MOSCOW, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble slumped to
a more than 10-month low on Friday, hurt by the looming spectre
of more sanctions against Moscow, in sparse trading with the
Russian market partially closed to mark a national holiday.
The rouble weakened past 76 to the dollar and by 1317 GMT was 1.4% weaker at 76.08 , its lowest level since April 22, 2022.
It lost 1.2% to trade at 80.33 against the euro . It shed 0.5% against the yuan to 10.96 . One year on from Russia sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, the rouble is back to levels seen before the conflict began. It tumbled to a record low in March 2022 before climbing to multi-year highs last summer, supported by capital controls, plummeting imports and soaring energy revenues.
Russia's economy proved unexpectedly resilient in the face of tough Western sanctions last year, but a return to pre-conflict levels of prosperity may be far off as more government spending is directed towards the military.
Trading volumes were minimal. The Russian market was closed on Thursday to mark Defender of the Fatherland day and open for only limited trading on Friday.
The rouble is expected to see greater demand before month-end taxes are due on Feb. 28, when exporters typically convert their foreign currency revenue.
But geopolitics continues to hamper the Russian currency, with Western nations set to impose more sanctions against Moscow over its actions in Ukraine.
Brent crude oil , a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.9% at $82.9 a barrel. Russian stock indexes were lower. The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 1.5% at 913.2 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.1% lower at 2,207.6 points. For Russian equities guide see For Russian treasury bonds see (Reporting by Alexander Marrow Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Susan Fenton)
