Dollar deals descend on interbank market

This morning, dollar deals with settlements on January 8 didn't exceed the level of 31.88-31.89 rubles on the interbank market. This level is a lot lower than on the previous day. On January 4, dollar deals with settlements on January 8 reached 31.93 rubles. In other words, today's deals were only 0.10-0.11 rubles ahead the official dollar exchange rate, compared to yesterday's deals that were 0.15 rubles ahead. Dealers from commercial banks prefer to explain this ruble strengthening by Central Bank's currency intervention. According to them, the Bank of Russia started selling dollars on the interbank market late on January 4 and managed to push the dollar down right away. Currently even deals with settlements on January 9 are unable to surpass the level of 31.90 rubles on the interbank market.