MOSCOW: The Russian rouble stabilised near 60 to the dollar on Wednesday, while stock indexes gave up earlier intraday gains and nodded lower as the market eyed an OPEC+ meeting.
By 1115 GMT, the rouble was flat against the dollar at 60.26 after briefly firming beyond the 60 mark. It was unchanged on the day at 61.26 against the euro.
Promsvyazbank analysts said the rouble would likely trade in a 59-61 range against the greenback on Wednesday.
The rouble is the world’s best-performing currency so far this year, having received an artificial boost from capital controls Russia imposed after sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.
The strong rouble has helped to limit burgeoning inflation, but is damaging to budget revenues and export-focused firms that rely on selling commodities abroad.
The latter raised concerns among Russian officials and business people and increased the need to reinstate a budget rule that caps Russia’s budget spending and diverts excess oil revenues into its rainy-day fund.
The parameters of the new budget rule are expected to be released soon, and the central bank expects it to be in place from 2023.
Rouble steadies near 60 vs dollar, X5 shares outperform wider market
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, was down 1% at $99.6 a barrel.
The OPEC+ meeting on Wednesday will discuss production policies from September and possibly onwards starting from 1130 GMT.
Russian stock markets staged a short-lived recovery after losing ground on Tuesday, with the market bracing for the return of foreign investors from countries that have not imposed sanctions on Russia from next week.
“This week we likely expect small trading volumes and a gradual slide downwards of the market before non-residents enter the stock market on Aug. 8,” said Sinara Investment Bank in a note.
Russia barred all foreign investors from its stock market days after Feb. 24, making domestic retail investors the market driver.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was flat at 1,115.6 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.2% lower at 2,133.6 points, giving up earlier gains.
Alfa Bank said a solid bounce back on the Russian equity market was unlikely “taking into account negative sanction-related and geopolitical developments.”
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