Russian ruble plunges to record low

Russian ruble plunges to record low

The Russian rouble slid more than 15% against the dollar and euro at market opening in Moscow on Monday but central bank intervention arrested its fall, after it tumbled to a record low in Asian trade as harsh new sanctions were slapped on Russia.

At 08:00 GMT the rouble was trading at 95.48 to the U.S. dollar , down 15% from Friday's close, and at 107.3550 per euro , 15.4% lower, with central bank selling of foreign currency set to limit its losses in Moscow trade. It had earlier touched a record low of 120 to the dollar on electronic currency trading platform EBS.

On Monday, the Russian central bank raised its key interest rate to 20% in an emergency move to support the rouble and address inflation risks.

The central bank has been intervening in FX markets since Feb. 24.

The central bank's actions helped lift the rouble from its record low to around 114 per dollar on EBS at around 07:30 GMT.

Russia's central bank announced a slew of measures on Sunday to support domestic markets as it scrambled to manage the fallout of the sanctions that will block some banks from the SWIFT international payments system.

The central bank said it would resume buying gold on the domestic market, launch a repurchase auction with no limits and ease restrictions on banks' open foreign currency positions.

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