Banks cut dollar sales at UTS

Following today's special dollar session with tomorrow settlements, the average-weighted dollar exchange rate reached RUR30.40 as of 11:30 Moscow time. Consequently, the official dollar exchange rate set for August 9-11 gained another RUR0.06. In other words, over the past three days the ruble weakened by 12 kopecks.

According to commercial bank specialists, today's obvious upsurge in US dollar rates is due to a rapid cutback in the dollar supply. Experts accept the possibility that banks started slowing down dollar sales hoping for a further ruble weakening. In other words, traders tend to wait to sell dollars, hoping to gain more from selling them after they grow. In the first 1.5 hours of trade at the UTS the volume of trading was reported as equal to at least $16m, most of which referred to dollar demand rather than dollar supply. As a result, the high on today's deals since the beginning of trade reached RUR30.42.