Fall in balances of correspondent accounts hampers further rise in dollar rate

The balances of correspondent accounts at Russian banks went downsignificantly today - by more than 13bn rubles (about $411m) in Russia andmore than 9bn rubles ($285m) in Moscow. This was the most significantreduction in the balances of correspondent accounts after August 1, or morethan a month ago. As a result, the balances amounted to less than 84bnrubles ($2.66bn) in Russia and 49.5bn rubles ($1.57bn) in Moscow, thelowest figures in September. This resulted in the weighted average dollarexchange rate staying unchanged at RUR 31.61 at the morning tradingsession.The dollar rate saw a fall on the interbank market in the first half oftoday's trading. Specialists report that even the high on tomorrow dealswas no more than RUR 31.63 against RUR 31.65 registered yesterday..