07 June 2004 10:47
CBR BUYS DOLLAR AT 29.02 RUBLES TO AVOID SLUMP
MOSCOW. June 7 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia bought dollars at 29.02 rubles/$1 on Monday to avoid a slump
in quotes amid a ruble supply shortage in the banking system.
The euro climbed to around 35.8 rubles, its level at the end of February, in reaction to gains on the international
Forex market.
"I would not talk about any kind of crisis, but the lack of
confidence banks have in each other could get worse. The monetary
A local ruble deficit caused by fears of a possible banking system crisis encouraged dollar sales, but the Central
Bank kept a tight hold on the situation, said Alexander Zhukov of Olimpiyskiy bank. "The Central Bank of Russia
bought dollars at 29.02-29.03 rubles/$1 on Monday amid high interbank loan market rates of up to 20%. The ruble deficit
is not as worrying as the market's nervousness and the fact that banks are temporarily closing limits on each
other," he said.
Igor Vasilyev of Alfa Bank said that although interbank loan market rates are going up and exporters are selling more
dollars, the situation is not such as to incite panic. "There is no aggressive dollar selling yet, the market is
taking a short breather - banks prefer to observe events and where possible reduce operations to a minimum," he
said.
authorities assure the market that if there is a liquidity problem the Central Bank will refinance the banking
system, but banks are not completely sure that there are no prerequisites to a crisis," Zhukov said.
The dollar fell 3.41 kopecks to 29.0247 rubles/$1 in Today deals and 1.96 kopecks to 29.0277 rubles/$1 in Tom deals.
The minimum price deal was made at 28.99 rubles/$1.
A total of $774.03 million changed hands Monday, including $447.657 million in Today deals and $326.373 million in
Tom deals.
In the euro/ruble sector, the euro continued to rise after analysts decided the Federal Reserve would increase
interest rates 0.25 percentage points in June. "The latest U.S. unemployment and employment figures, released at
the end of last week, indicated that the Fed is unlikely to up interest rates by 0.5 percentage points this month, as
investors predicted. This led to a drop for the dollar against the major currencies, and, especially, the euro,"
Vasilyev said.
On the international Forex market, trading opened at $1.233-$1.234, after which the euro corrected to under $1.23,
although it later went back to around $1.234. "It looks like the market is ready to see further euro growth,"
Zhukov said.
In euro/ruble trading, the euro rose 30.39 kopecks to 35.7842 rubles/EUR1.
Banks traded EUR 4.818 million in 193 deals.
[Interfax] |
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