Dollar Rate Surges On Russian Market

The dollar exchange rate surpassed a level of 30.5 rubles on the Russian currency market in the afternoon today, an expert from a large Russian bank reported in an interview with RBC. He specified that the high reached 30.58 rubles per dollar. The expert linked this high dollar exchange rate to expectations of an upsurge in the dollar rate at the first morning trading next year, which will be held on January 9. Meanwhile, this year's latest dollar transactions reached much lower levels of 30.12-30.15 rubles per dollar. The specialist also reported that, despite the huge balance at correspondent accounts, the market is suffering from a significant ruble deficit and the one-day ruble credit rate reached 60 per cent.