Special session posts record low trade volume in three weeks

At the end of today's morning dollar trade session the trade volume was alittle over $67m, which is the lowest figure since August 19, i.e. in morethan three weeks. The trade volume declined by over $25m at the specialdollar trade session on Thursday as compared to the previous figure. At thesame time, despite a low trade volume, especially during the second half ofthe morning dollar trade session, the high on dollar rate quotes reachedRUR31.69 per dollar, which is RUR0.05 higher than the official dollarexchange rate set by the Russian Central Bank for September 12. Accordingto commercial banks' dealers, it became possible owing to the CentralBank's absence at the dollar trade session. According to specialists, theCentral Bank did not interfere into the special dollar trade session todayand did not implement its dollar interventions to support the ruble. As aresult, the weighted average dollar exchange rate has been rising at themorning dollar trade session for the second day in a row, and reachedRUR31.65 per dollar today, experts pointed out..