MOSCOW: The Russian rouble firmed slightly on Wednesday away from three-week lows as it followed other emerging market currencies and higher oil prices, while shares in Sberbank outperformed as it decided to sell its Turkey's unit to Dubai's largest lender.
The rouble gained 0.2 percent to 65.17 versus the dollar as of 0723 GMT, moving away from its weakest level since March 12 of 65.85 hit on Monday.
The finance ministry is in focus later in the day as it will announce its foreign currency buying plan for the next month. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected FX purchases in April to remain close to March levels.
The finance ministry's weekly auctions of OFZ treasury bonds are also on the market's radar. Demand for such bonds is seen as a gauge of market sentiment towards Russian assets and usually supports the rouble if investors convert FX to take part in the auctions.
Against the euro, the rouble was steady at 73.18 . Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, supported Russian assets as it rose 0.7 percent to $69.83 after briefly hitting $69.92, its highest since Nov. 12.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 1.1 percent to 1,228.9 points, while the rouble-based MOEX Russian index climbed 0.6 percent higher to 2,544.3 points.
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