MOSCOW: Russian rouble weakened on Thursday under pressure from concerns about the resumption of state foreign currency purchases from next week.
The central bank is set to resume FX purchases for state reserves from Jan. 15, restoring daily downside pressure on the rouble that eased in late August when the central bank halted FX buying amid increased market volatility.
At 0720 GMT, the rouble was 0.16 percent weaker against the dollar at 66.85 and had lost 0.17 percent to trade at 77.23 versus the euro.
Room for rouble weakness was limited, however, by the globally weaker dollar which eased on growing expectations that the Federal Reserve could pause its rate tightening cycle this year.
Investors' attitude to emerging market currencies has improved in the past few days and is now set to be the key driver for the rouble, said Mikhail Poddubsky, an analyst at Promsvyazbank.
"For the next couple of days we consider the range of 66-67.50 roubles per dollar as the baseline scenario for the dollar/rouble pair," Poddubsky said in a daily note.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, jumped to their highest levels in nearly a month on Wednesday but was down 1.09 percent at $60.77 a barrel on Thursday.
Russian stock indexes were down.
The dollar-denominated RTS index shed 0.18 percent to 1,133.10 points, while the rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.42 percent lower at 2,404.14 points.
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