Ruble Slumps Toward Intervention Levels, Heading for Record Low
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The ruble weakened for a second day, testing the central bank’s intervention level, as oil slumped to the lowest level in more than two years.
The ruble retreated 0.1 percent to 44.4893 against the regulator’s basket of dollars and euros at 6 p.m. in Moscow, when the central bank stops its market operations. The price of oil, which with natural gas brings the state budget half its revenue, fell 0.9 percent to $91.52 a barrel in London, the lowest level since June 2012. The ruble dropped 14 percent against the dollar last quarter, the worst performance globally, as crude slid and clashes continued in east Ukraine.