The Russian rouble lost ground on Friday after the oil price sank further below $50 per barrel. At 0900 GMT, the rouble was down 0.3 percent against the dollar at 64.91 and shed 0.4 percent versus the euro to 72.35. "The rouble has to be quoted all the time with a view to oil," Forex Club analyst Alena Afanasieva said in a note. "As long as Brent doesn't stabilise at higher levels, it will be difficult for the Russian currency to strengthen."
International oil benchmark Brent was down 0.4 percent to $49 per barrel on Friday. Russian stock indexes were slighly stronger, tracking firmer global markets, which have been boosted by Greece's parliament approving the country's third bailout agreement. The dollar-based RTS index was up 0.1 percent to 830 points while the rouble-based MICEX rose 0.3 to 1,710 points. Shares in mobile phone operator MTS were down 1.6 percent after a Wall Street Journal report said the company and two other telecoms firms, Vimpelcom and TeliaSonera , were subject to a US corruption probe.