Recovery of the ruble, Russian equities run out of steam

MOSCOW, Feb 3 (Reuters) – The ruble weakened on Thursday after suffering recent heavy losses for five consecutive days, as stock indices tumbled as investors kept tabs on tensions between Moscow and the West that led to a massive sale. in January.

At 07:01 GMT, the ruble fell 0.6% to 76.46 against the dollar at 76.46, after hitting 75.68 on Wednesday, its highest level since January 17.

The ruble retreated from a nearly 15-month low of 80.4125 hit last week when it was battered by fears that Russia is planning to invade neighboring Ukraine, which Moscow has denied. many times.

Russian markets remain highly volatile and vulnerable to headlines related to political developments.

Against the euro, the ruble weakened 0.4% to 86.36.

The market is awaiting an announcement later today from the Ministry of Finance on how it plans to replenish its hard currency reserves over the coming month.

However, any immediate impact on the ruble should be minimal, as Russia last month suspended daily purchases of state currency from the market to ease pressure on its falling currency.

The ruble is expected to be supported by a central bank rate hike that the market priced in for Feb. 11 after inflation, the bank’s main area of ​​responsibility and which it is targeting at 4%, spiked to 8.82%, its highest since early 2016.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, fell 0.4% to $89.18 a barrel, nearing its highest level since October 2014 and supporting the current account surplus of Russia and other economic fundamentals.

Russian stock indices fell, after the gains of the past few days.

The dollar-denominated RTS index (.IRTS) lost 1.7% to 1,439.6 points. Russia’s ruble-based MOEX index (.IMOEX) was down 1.4% at 3,495.0 points.

For the guide to Russian stocks, see

For Russian Treasury bonds, see

Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh; edited by John Stonestreet

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