Rouble Past 3-wk High, Putin-Macron Talks in Focus

The Russian rouble rebounded to a more than three-week high against the dollar. It regained on Monday on the back of robust oil prices, though tensions over Ukraine limited its gains.

At 1135 GMT, the rouble earned 0.6% to 75.45 against the dollar, its most substantial level since the beginning of January.

Head of investment at LockoInvest, Dmitry Polevoy, said that the range for the rouble in coming days might be 75.50-77.50. The rouble set 0.7% to 86.39 Versus the euro.

The rouble moved away from a 14-month low of 80.4126 last month when Western forces threatened to charge more sanctions if Russia invaded Ukraine. The Kremlin denied having any plans regarding invading Ukraine.

On Monday, the market will focus on President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with his French partner Emmanuel Macron. The Kremlin said they would release an announcement about the meeting after 17:00 GMT.

Traders will also focus on Friday when the Bank of Russia raises its key interest rate from 8.6% to fight against stubbornly high inflation.

Overview of the rouble and other currencies

Higher rates support the Russian currency by investing in rouble-denominated assets and making them more attractive.

A global benchmark for Russia’s main export, Brent crude oil, went down 0.5% at $92.91 a barrel. But it traded near its highest levels since the beginning of 2014 of $94.01 that it reached earlier on Monday. Russian stock indexes moved up.

The dollar-denominated RTS index increased 1.2% to 1,451.4 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.3% higher at 3,477.9 points.

Shares in Sberbank, a top Russian lender, rose 0.5% on the day to 257.8 roubles ($3.42) per piece. It reached this level after the bank said its net profit increased by nearly 17% to 100.3 billion roubles under the Russian accounting standards.

Citi bank analysts commented on Sberbank results that they remain Buyers and see the significant fundamental value. He added that this value currently seems overshadowed by geopolitical risk.

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