- now 36.25-45.25 from 36-45 effective Oct 10
- central bank says it sold USD 866m for Oct 10 settlement according to the bank’s website
Given that’s the spot date for last Wednesday this isn’t exactly current news but does show the battle it has right now against the under-pressure rouble as sanctions give rise to a domestic demand for USD along with falling oil prices. Oil and natural gas contributes almost half of Russia’s revenue.
Although in central bank terms this amount is not so significant in itself the interventions overall last week exceeded $4 bln to try and curb the rouble’s biggest sell-off in seven months
The central bank automtatically intervenes to defend the rouble once it crosses the boundaries of its trading band. Once it’s spent USD 350mln defending the currency it moves the band by 5 kopecks. On Friday the rouble basket hit 45.2754 prompting the intervention .
USDRUB has been trading around 40.3270 this morning from 40.4640 highs