The collapse last week of Silicon Valley Bank in the United States spilled over into European markets, with Credit Suisse at the centre of a rout that was halted by a $54 billion lifeline from the Swiss central bank. By 1228 GMT, the rouble was 0.3% weaker against the dollar at 76.22 , earlier spiking to its weakest point since late April 2022 of 77.49.
It had lost 0.9% to trade at 80.93 versus the euro and shed 0.4% against the yuan to 11.04 .
According to a trader at a large Russian bank, the sharp drop looks more like a short-term play against the rouble by a large market player to sell foreign currency to a client at an inflated rouble rate, something that can happen while market liquidity is low.
"For private investors it is another reminder that the foreign exchange market has changed strongly over the last year and volatility could be extremely high," said Dmitry Polevoy, head of investment at Locko-Invest. "It would not be wise to draw far-reaching conclusions from such movement."
Brent crude oil , a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.1% at $73.80 a barrel, recovering some ground from the previous session's more than one-year lows. "The weakening of the national currency is a reaction to a significant drop in oil prices," said First Asset Management in a note, as it directly affects export earnings and, therefore, foreign exchange inflows.
Russian stock indexes were falling. The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 1.1% to 926.5 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.9% lower at 2,242.1 points. The Nasdaq stock exchange has informed Russian Internet giant Yandex and e-commerce firm Ozon that their stocks will be delisted, the companies said on Wednesday, more than a year after trading in their securities was suspended. The suspension could have a negative short-term impact on their Moscow-listed securities, said Veles Capital analysts.
Global depositary receipts in online bank Tinkoff's owner TCS Group were down 3.5% after it reported a 67% net profit drop for last year.
Alfa Bank analysts said the company's possible re-domiciling from Cyprus to an as yet undisclosed location could boost the stock, potentially enabling TCS to resume paying dividends. (Reporting by Alexander Marrow and Vladimir Abramov; Editing by Kim Coghill and Alex Richardson)
