Central Bank supports dollar, dealers say

At this morning's US dollar session, the weighted average exchange rate declined RUR0.02 to 31.58 RUR/USD. Commercial bank specialists point to the fact that amid excessive dollar sales, the ruble's strengthening could have been much more considerable. Experts say the reason why this did not happen is that the Russian Central Bank supported the dollar at the special session. Commercial bank dealers reported that the Central Bank had been buying US dollars at the UTS at RUR31.5800 and RUR31.5850, hampering its drop below this level.

To all appearances, the amount of the Central Bank's ruble intervention was rather significant today, as the special session's trade volume overcame $376m. In the opinion of RBC's interviewees, the Central Bank purchased about $300m to $350m at the UTS, which was almost equal to the entire dollar supply.

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