The newly designed Russian 100-rouble banknotes are seen on the Goznak printing manufacturing unit in Moscow, Russia July 6, 2022. Moscow Information Company/Handout through REUTERS

MOSCOW, Sept 2 (Reuters) – The rouble eased again from the 60 mark in opposition to the greenback and euro in Moscow commerce on Friday, whereas Russia’s benchmark MOEX inventory index hovered close to a greater than three-month excessive clipped early within the session.

At 0719 GMT, the rouble was 0.2% weaker in opposition to the greenback at 60.40 and had misplaced 0.5% to commerce at 60.20 versus the euro.

Promsvyazbank analysts stated the rouble would stay within the 60-61 vary in opposition to the dollar on Friday.

The rouble spent most of August close to 60 per greenback. Volatility has subsided because it hit a report low of 121.53 per greenback in Moscow commerce in March, quickly after Russia despatched tens of 1000’s of troops into Ukraine. It then rallied to its strongest in seven years of 50.01 per greenback in June.

To this point this yr, the rouble has been the world’s best-performing foreign money, buoyed by emergency capital controls rolled out by the central financial institution in a bid to halt a mass sell-off. This helped to keep away from an financial meltdown that many had predicted. learn extra

Nevertheless, the central financial institution stated Russian banks had misplaced a mixed 1.5 trillion roubles ($24.86 billion) within the first six months of 2022, disclosing banking sector earnings on Friday for the primary time since February. learn extra

Russian inventory indexes surged to their highest in latest months this week, buoyed by fuel large Gazprom’s (GAZP.MM) board recommending the cost of 51.03 roubles ($0.8456) per unusual share in dividends on the primary half of 2022.

The dollar-denominated RTS index (.IRTS) was down 0.4% to 1,273.9 factors, simply off a close to two-month excessive hit within the earlier session. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index (.IMOEX) was 0.2% decrease at 2,441.9 factors, earlier touching 2,450.48 factors, its strongest mark since Could 20.

“Traders could need to money in forward of the weekend, although we nonetheless imagine that the iMOEX stays in a rising development,” stated BCS International Markets in a word.

($1 = 60.3500 roubles)

Reporting by Alexander Marrow
Enhancing by Gareth Jones

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