27 April 2004 06:08
Ruble shortage provokes dollar sales
MOSCOW. April 27 (Interfax) - A shortage of rubles, which increased noticeably in the last week of April, is
continuing to provoke dollar sales: on Tuesday the U.S. currency fell below 28.85 rubles to the dollar.
Dealers said that the dollar decline began in the morning on Monday, after the U.S. currency at the unified trading
session on the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange exceeded 29 rubles and speculators increased sales, fixing
profits.
"The rate for overnight credits reached 15%-17% per year on
Tuesday, a level it hasn't seen for a long time - there is an obvious
It is not possible to say that ruble demand has reached its
highest level, banks are trying to come to terms with the market
situation, monitoring the euro dynamic against the dollar. Euro
Metallinvestbank dealer Alexander Panasenko said that on the previous evening the dollar closed at 28.89 rubles and
on Tuesday the decline continued in conditions of growing rates for ruble credits.
"The dollar may fall by another 10 kopecks, easily - this is not
the limit for the market, as the Russian Central Bank is not
interest in purchasing rubles. Demand for rubles can be explained by the end-of-month factor, and also partly due to
the absence of short positions at banks," he said.
The average rate for today dollars at the unified trading session
on Tuesday fell by 13.66 kopecks to 28.8687 rubles, with tomorrow
dollars down by 9.27 kopecks to 28.861 rubles - the minimum price
fluctuations on the Forex market on Tuesday were not very strong - from $1.186 to $1.191.
In the last trading days before the May holidays there might be a further decline, as the situation on the interbank
market is still far from stable.
intervening in trading," Panasenko said.
reached by evening was 28.845 rubles to the dollar.
The rate for today dollars during afternoon trading on the MICEX fell by 12.61 kopecks to 28.8509 rubles, with
tomorrow dollars down 9.94 kopecks at 28.8493 rubles to the dollar.
Total dollar trading on the MICEX on Tuesday amounted to $1.016 billion. Of this total, $133.198 million was in today
trading at the UTS and $205.911 million was in tomorrow trading at the UTS; $377.885 million was in today trading during
the afternoon session and $296.618 million was in tomorrow trading during the afternoon session.
There were also two deals for the day after tomorrow at the average rate of 28.8675 rubles to the dollar, amounting
to $2 million.
In the euro sector the European currency corrected upwards slightly - gaining 7.86 kopecks to 34.3175 rubles to the
euro at the UTS and to 34.2896 rubles in the afternoon.
At the UTS for the euro there was a total of 226 deals for 6.229 million euros, with 10 deals in the afternoon - for
788,000 euros. [RU EUROPE ASIA EEU EMRG EUR FRX BNK CEN INSI] rd <>
[Interfax] |
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