Monday, 09 November 2015 18:04
MOSCOW: The Russian rouble edged further down on Monday, adding to losses on Friday when strong US jobs data increased the chances of a rise in US interest rates next month.
At 0730 GMT, the rouble was 0.2 percent weaker against the dollar at 64.76 and had lost 0.4 percent to 69.69 versus the euro.
The rouble had fallen 1.8 percent against the dollar on Friday, when monthly US labour statistics caused global markets to position for the US Federal Reserve to increase interest rates in December.
Higher interest rates in the United States are negative for emerging markets such as Russia because they increase the returns on lower-risk dollar-denominated instruments.
A stronger dollar is also negative for the price of oil, Russia’s main export.
International crude oil benchmark Brent was up 0.5 percent at $ 47.7 a barrel on Monday, but it remains down around $ 3 compared with its peaks in the middle of last week.
“Friday’s US labour market report doesn’t promise the rouble anything good in the horizon of the next few days,” analysts at Rosbank said in a note.
“The rise in chances of a toughening of monetary policy in the US may temporarily increase the pressure on commodity prices and at the same time worsen the position of the rouble compared with competing emerging market (currency) pairs.”
Russian share indexes were virtually unchanged on Monday, after sinking on Friday on the US jobs data.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was flat at 854 points, while the rouble-based MICEX was 0.1 percent higher at 1,756 points.
