Russian rouble weakens against dollar

MOSCOW: The Russian rouble weakened against the dollar on Wednesday after the central bank said that currency trade, carried out over the counter following sanctions imposed on Russia’s main stock exchange in June, has stabilised.

By 0730 GMT, the rouble was 1.05 per cent weaker at 87.5 against the dollar.Sanctions on the Moscow Exchange and its clearing agent, the National Clearing Centre (NCC), led to increased volatility and wider spreads after trading shifted to the over-the-counter (OTC) market on June 14, obscuring access to reliable pricing for the Russian currency.

In its financial markets risk report published on Tuesday, the central bank said the situation in currency markets has “significantly normalised”, noting sales of foreign currency by exporters remained strong, amounting to $14.6 billion in June, only 2.0 per cent less than in the previous month. The regulator said the transition to a new exchange rate formation mechanism, where the official rouble exchange rate is set by the central bank based on rates in the OTC market, had only a “minimal, short-term impact”.

Against the yuan, which had already become the most traded foreign currency in Moscow before the latest sanctions were imposed, the rouble was flat at 11.95, according to an analysis of the OTC market.

In its report, the central bank noted rising yuan trade volumes as a result of the sanctions. It said that yuan trade at the Moscow Exchange hit a record 509 billion roubles ($5.82 billion) on June 19, five days after the sanctions were imposed, with the yuan accounting for 99.6 per cent of all exchange trade volumes.