Rouble slides to near three-week low vs dollar in early trade

MOSCOW: The Russian rouble weakened in early Moscow trade on Monday, sliding to the 62 mark against the dollar for the first time in nearly three weeks, hurt by geopolitical risks and an absence of domestic drivers. Geopolitics and sanctions risks have buffeted Russian markets in recent weeks since President Vladimir Putin moved to annex four regions of Ukraine after Moscow held what it called referendums - votes that were denounced by Kyiv and Western governments as illegal and coercive.

Explosions rocked Kyiv on Monday after a powerful blast on the weekend damaged a key bridge linking Russia and the Crimean peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014. At 0626 GMT, the rouble was 1.1% weaker against the dollar at 61.72, earlier hitting 62 for the first time since Sept. 21.

It had lost 0.9% to trade at 60.42 versus the euro and had shed 1.2% against the yuan to 8.60 . "(The rouble's) weakening may have been facilitated by the conversion of bond payments into foreign currency and geopolitical news," said Dmitry Polevoy, head of investment at Locko Invest.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 0.5% at $97.5 a barrel, having earlier touched a more than one-month high.