Russia’s Central Bank, the Bank of Russia, has sold as much as $12.95 billion in the first half of October to support the nation’s currency, the ruble, which has seen increased pressure amid plunging oil prices which have battered the sanctions-hit Russian economy, data released from the central bank showed on Friday, as The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports.
On October 15, the Bank of Russia spent $1.768 billion in forex interventions to stem losses in the currency, the Central Bank said, according to the WSJ.
At the end of the trading session on Thursday, the Central Bank said it pushed the ruble’s trading band 30 kopecks higher to 37.25-46.25 rubles per euro-dollar basket, according to the WSJ.
The WSJ added that the move by Russia’s Central Bank is evidence of the bank’s persistent intervention on currency markets as it has shifted the band 37 times since the start of October.
Russia’s Central Bank keeps the ruble within a floating band and will begin selling dollars and euros to thus cushion the currency’s decline when the nation’s currency moves to the weak end of the floating band. It automatically moves the band by five kopecks, or five hundredths of a ruble, after an intervention allotment of $350 million is exhausted, the WSJ added.
Source: WSJ
Discussion
No comments yet.