Russian ruble falls further vs basket, CBR says intervenes

The Russian ruble, depressed by economic troubles in Europe, continued spiraling downward for a second week with its weighted average at the unified trading session losing 82.11 kopecks to 32.9173 per dollar, the MICEX-RTS exchange data showed.

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) said it had sold 2.28 billion rubles worth of hard currency to prop up the ruble, as investors, scared by the Eurozone’s turbulence, fled the emerging market risk.

The ruble with tomorrow settlement dropped 33 kopecks against the euro to 41.76.

The ruble fell 25 kopecks to 37.31 against the bi-currency basket, which consists of $0.55 and 0.45 euros.

The CBR’s currency corridor is set at 32.15–38.15 rubles. Some analysts say the CBR would only accelerate dollar sales, if the ruble comes close to the highest boundary of the bi-currency corridor.