MOSCOW: The Russian rouble weakened on Thursday, under pressure from a stronger dollar and lower oil prices.
The dollar gained against its major peers after minutes of the Federal Reserve's September meeting signalled that interest rates will rise further this year.
At 0730 GMT, the rouble was 0.35 percent weaker against the dollar at 65.73 and had lost 0.38 percent to trade at 75.58 versus the euro.
The rouble was also under pressure on Wednesday after a shooting at a college in Crimea, when 20 people were killed and dozens injured, said Andrey Kochetkov, an analyst with Otkritie Broker.
Falling prices for crude oil, Russia's main export, also undermined the rouble. Brent crude was down 0.51 percent at $79.64 a barrel.
Analysts were also watching Russian economic indicators. The economy grew 1.3 percent in the third quarter year-on-year, down from 1.9 percent in the second quarter, the economy ministry said on Wednesday. Some analysts said second-quarter growth was partly driven by the World Cup, which Russia hosted .
At the same time, growth in Russian retail sales slowed to 2.2 percent in September year-on-year after rising 2.8 percent in August.
"While neutral for monetary policy, which has to remain moderately hawkish because of the heightened inflationary risks, this weakening consumer activity amid declining approval rates for the country's political leadership, might become a challenge to the conservative budget policy implemented so far," ING said in a note.
Russian stock indexes were down.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.77 percent to 1,153.86 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.15 percent lower at 2,407.3 points.
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