MOSCOW: The Russian ruble opened higher on Tuesday, reaching its strongest levels since late June on expectations of foreign exchange sales by export-oriented companies.
At 06:41 GMT, the ruble gained 0.57% against the dollar to 87.91 and was trading at 96.37 against the euro, up 0.34%. It increased by 0.15% against the Yuan to 12.30.
Earlier on Tuesday, the ruble reached its highest level since June 30 at 87.70 per US dollar and 95.76 per euro.
The ruble has posted weekly growth against the dollar for six weeks in a row, strengthening by more than 100 since the presidential decree was announced last month requiring some exporters to convert a significant portion of their foreign exchange earnings into foreign currency.
Month-end tax payments, where exporters usually convert their foreign currency earnings into rubles to meet their domestic obligations, are expected to support the ruble this week.
The Central Bank of Russia’s increase in interest rate to 15% at the end of October also supported the currency.
The bank has signaled that another rate hike may be needed before it starts reducing borrowing costs, but analysts generally agree that the rate hike cycle is close to completion.
Russian ruble rises to 5-month high against dollar
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, fell 0.77% to $81.69 per barrel.
Russian stock market indices traded horizontally in the first minutes of the session.
RTS index in dollar terms increased by 0.27 percent to 1,145.56 points.
Ruble-based MOEX Russia index decreased by 0.35% to 3,169.57 points.
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