The value of Russia’s ruble (RUB) against the US dollar (USD) felt its first decline in over a week this morning as oil prices came tumbling yesterday. With oil being the leading export-driven revenue in Russia, its value tends to have significant effect on the nation’s currency values; which is why traders saw the USD/RUB and EUR/RUB move upwards by about 0.2% after a jolting downturn in oil values was witnessed Monday evening.
A mild decline, granted, but the suddenness of the move had forex traders eyeing commodity pricing data ahead of a turbulent news week. Bloomberg analysts highlighted China’s central bank statement that it would maintain a “prudent” monetary policy to address its inflationary concerns as a key driver in the decline of oil prices yesterday.
Read more forex trading news on our forex blog.
The move is expected to dampen oil demand in the US and China, which speculators have taken as a cue to sell the black gold. Russian currency values were not the only thing affected, moreover. Russian government bonds also fell, dropping the ruble Eurobond yield by approximately one basis point. Should oil prices continue to falter, ruble traders may continue to see some bearishness.
