June 26 (Portal) – The Russian ruble hit its lowest level in almost 15 months against the dollar on Monday, before paring some losses as investors reacted to an aborted mutiny by heavily armed mercenaries in Russia for the first time over the weekend.
At 07:27 GMT, the ruble was 0.5% weaker against the dollar at 85.15 after hitting 87.2300 in early trade, the weakest point since late March 2022.
It slipped 0.6% to 92.86 against the euro and slipped 0.5% against the yuan to 11.77, previously hitting their lowest levels against both currencies in more than two months.
Mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin retreated from the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don overnight on Saturday. Their rapid advance on Moscow was halted under a deal, but questions remained about President Vladimir Putin’s seizure of power.
“Politics are again having a negative impact on investor sentiment,” said Alor Broker’s Alexey Antonov. “The peak of tensions is over, but an uncomfortable backlog will linger for some time.”
With the ruble not trading over the weekend, Russian banks had been offering exchange rates well above the official exchange rate of 90 to the dollar, but these gradually eased as tensions eased.
Ruble opens at 15-month lows against the dollar
Investors around the world waited for the fallout from the aborted mutiny, with some anticipating a retreat to safe havens like US Treasuries and the dollar.
The development has also reignited an old fear in Washington about what will happen to Russia’s nuclear arsenal in the event of a domestic turmoil.
Brent crude, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, rose 0.8% to $74.43 a barrel.
Russian stock indices were lower.
Sinara Investment Bank said Friday night’s “unexpected and dramatic events” sparked a sell-off, but the quick resolution of the situation over the weekend meant another selling spree was unlikely.
“Market participants could remain cautious for some time,” Sinara said.
The dollar-denominated RTS index (.IRTS) fell 1.5% to 1,024.3 points. The ruble-based MOEX Russian Index (.IMOEX) was down 1% at 2,767.9 points.
Shares in most companies outperformed the main index after falling sharply in after-hours trading late Friday.
Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Edited by Kim Coghill
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