18 Nov 2009 18:33

Dollar drops on MICEX, euro posts gains

MOSCOW. Nov 18 (Interfax) - The U.S. dollar dropped in MICEX trading on Wednesday as the euro posted moderate gains following the dollar's weak performance on the Forex. The ruble went down slightly against the bi-currency basket as the Central Bank said it had purchased $6 billion in forex since the opening of November in order to prevent the ruble from acquiring too much upward momentum.

The dollar lost 3.75 kopecks on the MICEX in Today trades to close at 28.7225 rubles/$1 while the euro gained 10.09 kopecks to finish at 42.9009 rubles/EUR1.

The bi-currency basket gained two kopecks to finish at 35.1 rubles.

The dollar's average weighted exchange rate on the MICEX went up by 1.18 kopecks to 28.7004 rubles/$1 in Today deals on Wednesday and dropped by 1.76 kopecks to 28.7037 rubles in Tomorrow deals. Total dollar trading on the MICEX amounted to $3.403 billion with $713.6 million in Today deals and $2.689 billion in Tomorrow deals.

The euro went 10.02 kopecks to 42.7893/EUR1 rubles in Today deals and lost 1.54 kopecks to 42.8342 rubles/EUR1 in Tomorrow deals. Total euro trading came to 196.7 million euro, of which 60.2 million euro were Today deals and 136.5 million euro were Tomorrow deals.

The overnight MIACR came to 5.38%, up 19basis point for the day.