Strain on ruble liquidity pushes dollar rate down

The weighted-average dollar rate with tomorrow settlements came to RUR30.25 in early trade today, down RUR0.07 against the official dollar rate for July 28. This was the second consecutive fall in the dollar at the UTS after Friday's RUR0.04 decline.

Commercial bank dealers attribute this quick falling run of the dollar rate to a lack of ruble resources and a noticeable setback in the ruble liquidity. One-day ruble credit rates were from 5 to 7 percent on Friday, up from 1 to 2 percent over a long period that preceded. Today, one-day ruble credit rates have been touching as much as 12 percent, experts told RBC. A strain on ruble liquidity felt by most commercial banks has been due to large payments to the Russian budget that are normally made at the end of the month. To cope with these problems, banks have started to get rid of dollars and caused a dramatic decrease in the dollar rate today.