off-the-wire

Russian rouble steadies as oil prices pull away from 3-month lows

Kitco Media
By Reuters
Published:
Updated:
Reuters
March 15 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble stabilised ahead of three government debt auctions on Wednesday, gaining support as oil prices pulled away from over three-month lows while investors looked ahead to this week's interest rate decision by the Bank of Russia. At 0721 GMT, the rouble was 0.1% weaker against the dollar at 75.41 and had lost 0.3% to trade at 80.90 versus the euro . It was steady against the yuan at 10.93 . The rouble hit its strongest level against the dollar since the start of March early on Tuesday, before easing. The U.S. currency has come under pressure from fears of a spillover banking crisis following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Currency interventions are providing some support to the rouble, as Russia is selling 5.4 billion roubles ($71.7 million) a day of Chinese yuan between March 7 and April 6 to compensate for lower oil and gas revenues. Domestic attention is focused on Russia's central bank, which will set interest rates on Friday. The regulator has
signalled it will weigh up hiking rates in the coming months. Analysts polled by Reuters widely expect the bank to hold its key interest rate at 7.5% before possibly hiking the cost of borrowing later this year. Russia's finance ministry is set to offer OFZ treasury bonds at auction later on Wednesday after a pause in debt issuance last week. "Investors will continue to be cautious in the debt market ahead of this Friday's central bank meeting," said Promsvyazbank analysts. "With expectations that the key rate will be held, the regulator's signal will likely remain quite hawkish."


Brent crude oil , a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 1.2% at $78.4 a barrel, pulling clear of its lowest mark since mid-December, hit in the previous session.


Russian stock indexes were mixed. The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.1% to 957.2 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.1% higher at 2,291.4 points. ($1 = 75.3700 roubles) (Reporting by Alexander Marrow; editing by Barbara Lewis)

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