Rouble gains amid higher oil, Sberbank shares outperform

03 Apr, 2019

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.

Copyright Reuters, 2019

Read Comments