MOSCOW: The Russian rouble weakened against both the US dollar and the Chinese yuan ahead of the central bank’s board meeting on Friday, where the regulator is expected to maintain the benchmark interest rate at 18%.

By 0730 GMT, the rouble was down by 2% at 91.05 against the dollar and down 0.2% at 12.71 against the yuan, LSEG data showed.

The rouble was up by 0.1% at 12.72 against the yuan in trade on the Moscow Stock Exchange.

Russian rouble strengthens ahead of the central bank rate meeting

Trading in major currencies in Russia has shifted to the over-the-counter (OTC) market, obscuring price data, since Western sanctions on the Moscow Exchange and its clearing agent, the National Clearing Centre, were introduced on June 12.

The central bank is likely to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 18%, according to a majority of 27 analysts polled by Reuters, amid early signs of the economy cooling down.

One-day rouble-dollar futures, which trade on the Moscow Exchange and are a guide for OTC market rates, were up 0.3% at 90.68.

The central bank’s official exchange rate, which it calculates using OTC data, was set at 91.11 to the dollar.

The rouble was down by 2% at 100.76 against the euro , LSEG data showed.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, was up 0.4% at $72.42, extending a rally sparked by output disruptions in the US Gulf of Mexico.