Ruble falls again, Russian stocks rally after massive selloff

MOSCOW, Nov. 24 (Reuters) – The Russian ruble fell again on Wednesday, approaching its weakest point since mid-2021 under pressure from geopolitical issues, as higher oil prices helped indexes fellows to reduce recent losses.

The ruble lost 8% of its value against the dollar in four weeks, from a peak of several months to 69.21 reached in late October due to selling pressure linked to Western concerns about a possible Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Read more

At 10:00 GMT, the ruble was 0.6% weaker against the dollar at 74.69, heading towards its weakest since July 8 of 75.2925 which it reached on Tuesday. Read more

Against the euro, the ruble eased 0.2% to 83.66.

The Kremlin downplayed the significance of the ruble’s fall, saying it saw no reason for “excessive alarmism”, having repeatedly rejected suggestions that Russia was considering intervening in Ukraine as arsonists.

Russia also complained about the increased activity in the region by the NATO military alliance and compared the situation in Ukraine to the run-up to the Georgia war in 2008.

“For now, it all depends on the geopolitical news … If this topic disappears from the headlines, even temporarily, the markets are likely to continue to recover,” said Evgeniy Suvorov, economist at CentroCreditBank, on his report. Telegram MMI channel.

Domestically, the ruble retains the support of economic fundamentals, such as a strong current account surplus.

The ruble also received backing from export-oriented companies that were selling foreign exchange before the mining tax was paid on Thursday, VTB Capital said.

Russian stock indices were mixed.

The RTS index (.IRTS) denominated in dollars rose 0.6% to 1,671.9 points. The ruble-based Russian MOEX index (.IMOEX) held steady at 3,959.6 points, falling below the 4,000 level it fell below on Monday.

Russian lender TCS Group certificates of deposit initially outperformed the market after a strong earnings report, but then reduced gains and remained stable that day, per MOEX. Read more

Report by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by David Goodman, Edmund Blair and Emelia Sithole-Matarise

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