Dollar settles back to 29.8 rubles; ruble at level of early October
MOSCOW. Nov 27 (Interfax) - The dollar fell back to $29.80 rubles/$1 after soaring to a peak of 29.93 rubles/$1 in the first minutes of trading on the MICEX currency exchange on Friday. The ruble is at its lowest level since early October.
The dollar was at 29.8 rubles/$1 in tom contracts as of 11:30 a.m., 60.05 kopecks above the close on Thursday. The euro was at 44.235 rubles/1 euro, 22.75 kopecks above the previous close.
The euro had risen to 44.615 rubles/1 euro in the first minutes of trading on Friday, its highest level since early September.
The bicurrency basket ($0.55 and 0.45 euro) touched a two-month high of 36.5 rubles, 64 kopecks above the close on Thursday, but had settled back to 35.3 rubles by 11:30 a.m., which is 44 kopecks above the previous close.
The dollar closed the MICEX index session at 29.8179 rubles/$1, 94.28 kopecks above the official exchange rate for Friday.
The Interfax Center for Economic Analysis said the ruble was slipping in the fallout to Dubai World's announcement it would seek a standstill on debt repayment, which has triggered declines on stock markets worldwide and in oil prices. In addition, the euro has declined to $1.483-$1.488 in forex trading.