Dollar rate revisits 1.5 month old levels

At the end of the morning dollar trade session on August 27, the weightedaverage dollar exchange rate grew by RUR0.03 to RUR31.55. As a result, theofficial dollar exchange rate for August 28 returned to a more than 1.5month old level, since the same figure was posted on July 10. Commercialbanks' specialists point to the fact that the noticeable strengthening ofthe ruble at today's unified dollar trade session took place amid a largetrade volume of nearly $97m, an increase of $29m as compared to the tradevolume posted at the last trade session. According to dealers, thissubstantial trade volume was due to the Russian Central Bank's aggressiveintervention into the morning dollar trade session. According to analysts,the Central Bank both bought and sold dollars at the unified trade session.Experts say the Central Bank supported the dollar today and bought it atRUR31.55, while on the other hand, it sold dollars at RUR31.56-31.57, thuspreventing dollar rate quotes from rising above the specified level. .