Ruble Snaps Two Days of Gains Against Dollar as Brent Declines

The ruble dropped for the first day in three against the dollar as oil, Russia’s chief export earner, declined.

The ruble fell less than 0.1 percent to 31.0300 against the dollar by 7 p.m. in Moscow, taking the weekly drop to 0.5 percent. The Russian currency was little changed versus the euro at 40.2400 and at 35.1745 against the central bank’s euro-dollar target basket.

Brent declined 0.9 percent to $114.67 a barrel in London by the close of ruble trading after the International Energy Agency cut its forecast for global demand by 100,000 barrels a day from a month ago. Oil and gas accounts for about 50 percent of Russia’s government revenue.

Non-deliverable forwards showed the ruble at 31.4881 per dollar in three months compared with 31.5125 yesterday.

An index of five-year government bond yields compiled by the Micex fell eight basis points, or 0.08 percent, to 7.278 percent. The extra yield investors demand to own Russia’s dollar bonds over U.S. Treasuries fell three basis points 186, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s EMBI Global Index.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lyubov Pronina in London at lpronina@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net