Rouble treads h2o, Russian shares strike 2-month low amid geopolitical woes

MOSCOW, Nov 22 (Reuters)The rouble firmed marginally in opposition to the greenback on Monday, hovering near the 73.5 mark, and Russian shares strike additional than two-thirty day period lows as lingering geopolitical dangers and lower oil costs hampered demand from customers for Russian belongings.

At 0729 GMT, the rouble was .1% much better towards the greenback at 73.34 RUBUTSTN=MCX, edging away from its weakest place since Aug. 27, which it strike on Friday, apart from a seconds-extensive fall on the Moscow Exchange on Oct. 22 that was possibly triggered by a investing error.

It had gained .4% to trade at 82.68 vs . the euro EURRUBTN=MCX, which was struggling amid increasing nervousness over the effects of surging COVID-19 bacterial infections in Europe.

The rouble is underneath strong tension from sales of equities and OFZ treasury bonds, as perfectly as the high volume of foreign forex buys by the finance ministry this month, mentioned Alor Broker chief analyst Alexei Antonov.

Geopolitics is also a variable.

Right after hitting its strongest stage considering the fact that mid-2020 of 69.21 against the dollar in late October, the rouble has arrive under advertising tension this month on Western fears about achievable Russian military intervention in Ukraine.

Russian troop movements in the vicinity of the Ukrainian border have spurred fears of a achievable attack. But Moscow has dismissed this sort of tips as inflammatory and complained about expanding exercise in the area by the NATO navy alliance.

“Russia is most likely to continue being out of favour as prolonged as the political chest thumping and sabre rattling continues,” stated BCS World-wide Markets in a notice.

Russia’s chance calculated by 5-calendar year credit rating default swaps RUGV5YUSAC=MG that reflect the value of insuring exposure to sovereign financial debt jumped to its highest considering that April 22 final 7 days.

Brent crude oil LCOc1, a global benchmark for Russia’s major export, was down .4% at $78.57 a barrel, including to pressure on Russian stock indexes.

The dollar-denominated RTS index .IRTS was down .3% to 1,718.3 details, previously clipping its most affordable mark considering that Sept. 20.

The rouble-dependent MOEX Russian index .IMOEX was .3% lower at 4,003.2 details, after dropping below the 4,000-level mark in early trade for the to start with time in two months.

For Russian equities guide see RU/Equity

For Russian treasury bonds see #RUTSY=MM

(Reporting by Alexander Marrow, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

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