By 1512 GMT, the rouble was 0.4% weaker against the dollar at 75.77 and was unchanged at 80.44 versus the euro . It had shed 0.1% against the yuan to 10.86 . The Russian market will be closed on Wednesday for International Women's Day. "It seems that the dollar-rouble pair is looking for an equilibrium level near the 75 mark," said Alor Broker analyst Alexei Antonov. "So far there are no reasons for strong movement of the rouble."
From Tuesday, the finance ministry is decreasing its daily FX sales to 5.4 billion roubles ($71.6 million) for the upcoming month, down from 8.9 billion roubles. Russia is selling yuan rather than the currencies of what it terms "unfriendly" Western countries, underscoring the growing importance of the Chinese currency in Moscow's efforts to ensure economic stability amid Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine. FX sales are depleting funds from Russia's National Wealth Fund (NWF), finance ministry data showed.
The ministry also said that Russia's federal budget had widened to around $34 billion in the first two months of this year as Moscow sharply raised expenditure while revenue fell amid slumping oil and gas takings.
Brent crude oil , a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 1.1% at $85.3 a barrel. Russian stock indexes were mixed. The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.4% to 954.5 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.1% higher at 2,295.8 points, earlier clipping a near six-month high touched.
Shares in major lender Sberbank outperformed the wider market, climbing to their highest since Feb. 24, 2022, the day Russia sent troops into Ukraine.
The rise came after Sberbank CEO German Gref met with
Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the lender's return
to profitability after a challenging period in which it lost
most of its foreign assets and sanctions forced it to stop
operations in dollars and euros.
($1 = 75.4000 roubles)
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Ed
Osmond)
