Russian rouble pares some losses as oil prices edge up

LONDON:The Russian rouble strengthened on Wednesday ahead of three OFZ treasury bond auctions by the finance ministry, paring some of the previous day’s losses as oil prices recovered.

At 0710 GMT, the rouble was 0.4% stronger against the dollar at 84.48 and had gained 0.1% to trade at 92.26 versus the euro. It had firmed 0.2% against the yuan to 11.74.

The rouble weakened around 2% against the dollar last week, hitting a more than 14-month low, blighted by volatile swings in a low liquidity market, eliciting comments on the rouble rate from senior officials, who suggested that an exchange rate of 80-90 per dollar was preferable.