The rouble shed 0.2 percent to 64.39 by 0732 GMT, stepping away from its strongest level since March 26 of 64.20 it touched on Wednesday.

The finance ministry came into the spotlight on Wednesday as it managed to sell a record $3.1 billion worth of rouble-denominated OFZ bonds at regular weekly auctions.

The auctions "confirmed the OFZ status as one of the most attractive classes of emerging market assets," said Dmitry Polevoy, chief economist at Russian Direct Investment Fund.

The question now is whether the rouble would be able to firm beyond its strongest levels of March at around 63.85 against the dollar, Polevoy said.

Versus the euro, the rouble eased 0.3 percent to 72.66 , also heading away from its strongest level since March 26 of 72.37 it touched on the previous day.

Prices for oil, Russia's key exports, remained supportive for Russian assets. Brent crude futures declined 0.6 percent to $71.29 per barrel but traded near its 2019 high of $71.78 briefly touched on Wednesday.

The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.3 percent lower at 2,571.36 points, near its all-time high of 2,591.69 reached on Wednesday.

The dollar-denominated RTS stock index was down 0.3 percent to 1,258.4 points after a four-day long advance.