Dollar gains at UTS

The weighted average dollar exchange rate on tomorrow deals amounted to 29 RUR/USD at the beginning of a special session this morning, which was RUR0.03 higher than the official dollar rate set by the Russian Central Bank for April 26. The high on these deals was 29.03 RUR/USD at the UTS.

As reported earlier, the dollar lost RUR0.01 on the previous workday on April 23. However, in the period from April 16 to 22 the dollar gained RUR0.37 against the national currency.

Commercial bank dealers attribute this increase in the dollar on the Russian currency market to its advance against the euro on international exchanges. The European currency costs $1.177 while on the previous business day it was $1.192, which means that the euro has retreated over 1 percent.

At the same time the activity of UTS participants was inconsiderable in the first 40 minutes of trade. Market participants bought just $15m in this period of time. It seems that a ruble deficit, which is attributed to the end-of-the-month factor, hinders dollar purchases by banks. The one-day ruble credit rates have been about 6 to 7 percent this morning, experts told RBC.