Russian Ruble Hits Record Lows Vs. Dollar, Euro

The Russian ruble continued dropping to fresh record lows against the dollar and the euro Thursday, raising expectations that the central bank would need to take extra measures to contain the depreciation.

The ruble eased nearly 0.4% in the first minutes of trading on the Moscow exchange to 43.36 after briefly hitting its weakest ever level of 43.66, which bring the ruble’s year-to-date depreciation to nearly a quarter. Compared with the euro, the ruble was steady at 54.58 after briefly spiking to 55.49.

Versus the euro-dollar basket, that the central bank uses to track the domestic currency market, the ruble shed 0.3% to a new low of 48.47.

The central bank said Thursday it shifted the ruble’s trading band to 39.20 to 48.20 against the basket close to the end of the main trading session on Wednesday.

Source: MarketWatch