US President Barack Obama with his Russian counterpart Vladimir
Putin. The rouble extended its historic lows against the dollar on
Thursday amid mounting market speculation that the Central Bank may
delay a planned 2015 free-float of the Russian currency because of its
rapid decline. PHOTO | FILE
The rouble extended its historic lows on
Thursday amid mounting market speculation that the Central Bank may
delay a planned 2015 free-float of the Russian currency because of its
rapid decline.
The euro was up 0.3 per cent to 48.20
roubles in afternoon trading on the Moscow Exchange -- above the record
high it had set on Wednesday.
The dollar also traded up
0.7 per cent at 35.42 roubles and appeared on track to add further to a
five-year high it established against the beleaguered Russian currency
this week.
The dual-currency basket of dollars and
euros which the central bank uses to set policy had broken the 41.15 low
point it established in the February 2009 and stood at 41.165 roubles
at 1:30 or 0930 GMT.
Fully floating exchange rate
Russia's
Central Bank has reduced the amount of its direct interventions on the
market as it moves to a fully floating exchange rate by the start of
next year.
The rouble has shed more than six per cent of its value against the dual currency basket since the start of the year.
Both
traders and officials said the free-float idea may have to be reviewed
in light of the rapid turn of investor sentiment against emerging
markets.
Did "moving to a free float led to a free-fall?" Moscow's VTB Capital investment bank asked in a research note.
"The fall has become so steep that the rouble free-float planned for 2015 may be delayed," the Vedomosti business daily wrote.
The
influential daily reported that Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev --
the former Central Bank chief whom Vedomosti identified as the "author
of the (free-float) idea" -- no longer believes the 2015 target date can
be met
No comments :
Post a Comment