Russian rouble weakens vs US dollar for the first time since July 3

MOSCOW: The Russian rouble weakened against the U.S. dollar on Friday after strengthening during five consecutive sessions, and was also down against China’s yuan, Russia’s most traded foreign currency.

At 1415 GMT, the rouble was 0.5% weaker at 78.95 per U.S. dollar, according to LSEG data based on over-the-counter quotes. The Russian currency is still up by about 45% against the dollar since the start of the year.

“The rouble has remained excessively strong. According to our model, the state of imports, exports, oil prices, and the Finance Ministry’s foreign currency purchases cannot justify such strong levels,” Raiffeisen analysts said.

They said that the rise of the rouble’s share in Russia’s foreign trade added to already strong demand for rouble assets, generated by high interest rates in the economy.

Against the Chinese yuan, the rouble was down over 1% at 10.94 per yuan on the Moscow Stock Exchange.