Dollar Rate Continues Surging On Russian Currency Market

The dollar exchange rate jumped on the Russian stock market in the afternoon today and reached a level of 29.7 rubles by 2 p.m. This is 0.11 rubles more than an official dollar exchange rate for this Friday and 0.07 rubles more than the official rate set for the next working day, Monday October 29. Banking experts who spoke to an RBC correspondent linked this upsurge to a drop in one-day ruble credit rates on the interbank market. They specified that ruble credit rates were at a level of about 3 or 5 per cent in the morning today and then plummeted to 1 per cent for large banks and 2 per cent for medium-sized and small banks. This situation is surprising, taking into account that the balance of correspondent accounts in the Moscow region remained almost unchanged. It amounted to 45bn rubles (about $1.52bn). Meanwhile, the Central Bank is not interfering into the course of currency trading, analysts stressed.