MOSCOW: The Russian rouble rose early on Thursday, supported by gains in global oil prices. At 0725 GMT, the rouble was 0.4 percent stronger against the dollar at 59.26 <RUBUTSTN=MCX> and had gained 0.4 percent to trade at 63.05 versus the euro <EURRUBTN=MCX>. Brent crude oil <LCOc1>, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, was up 0.8 percent at $54.4 a barrel.
Analysts said the rouble was also being lifted by end-month tax payments as well as by investors snapping up Russian assets, which are relatively high yielding versus those in developed markets. The rouble is typically supported towards the end of each month, when exporters sell a portion of their foreign-currency revenues to pay rouble-denominated taxes.
“Besides exporters, the ongoing international portfolio inflows into the Russian market have also helped the rouble,” Maxim Korovin at VTB Capital said in a note. Korovin cautioned, however, that should oil prices change direction the rouble could suffer heavy losses given significant long positioning currently in the Russian currency’s favour. Russian share indexes were mixed in early trade. The dollar-denominated RTS index <.IRTS> was up 0.1 percent to 1,152 points, while the rouble-based MICEX <.MCX> was less than 0.1 percent lower at 2,169 points.
