In the first half of trading on Monday the ruble traded in confident black against the dollar and the euro. One of the possible causes of this is the consolidation of oil prices above the key level of $60 per barrel; there have even been attempts to break the level of $63 per barrel. The dollar fell to 57 rubles, the euro – below 70 rubles.
The dollar by the calculations for tomorrow equals 56.72 rubles, the euro – 69.55 rubles, from the data of the Moscow Exchange.
Oil prices rose after the statements by the Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia, Ali al-Naimi, about global economic growth, which increases demand for the "black gold", RIA Novosti points out.
According to the chairman of the National Currency Organization, Dmitry Piskulov, the strengthening of the ruble is a natural correction that occurred after the sharp decline last week.
"Government agencies and monetary authorities have taken some actions to strengthen confidence in the banking system and reduce the demand for currency. First, last week the deposit auctions were launched by the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry has pledged up to $7 billion on the domestic foreign exchange market. Secondly, at a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with the largest companies, Putin advised not to hold the currency and sell it, because the export component of the Russian economy will not go away. The country still exports goods and there are still foreign exchange earnings, but large companies have the opportunity to detain it," the expert said.
However, he explained, "There was a request about continuing to sell foreign exchange earnings on the domestic market to fulfil it, because the market today has a great demand and supply reduction," he said.
"The actions taken to stabilize the banking system, the growth of the interest rate for the ruble and the growth of the key rate, led to the fact that all money market rates currently went up. There is a crisis of confidence on the interbank market – all the bets are quite high, which makes the cost of holding long positions in dollars very dear. So in an environment where the dollar goes up, it is impossible to recapture profitability. Respectively, many banks and companies that were opening those positions, are now closing them and selling the currency. Therefore, the currency is falling, and the ruble is strengthening," Piskulov concluded.
A leading researcher at the Institute of Applied Economic Research at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Alexander Abramov, claimed that the strengthening of the ruble is caused by exporters, who began to transfer their currency to the foreign exchange market. "Strictly speaking, this is the main factor. However, on Friday the oil price became a little stronger, but the main reason is that the fresh currency has come from the exchange offers to the market. This has strengthened the ruble," the expert concluded.
