OREANDA-NEWS. Yesterday, trading activity remained subdued, with MICEX turnover totalling USD 3.5bn. In the first trading minutes, USDRUB touched 65.90 as Brent revisited local lows, having slipped to USD 48.30/bbl. However, some profit taking emerged here, which helped RUB to recover to 65.20. For the rest of the day, USDRUB moved slowly higher and closed at 65.83 (-0.5%). The performance of the crude oil market is still the main driver for the Russian FX market, in our view. Yesterday, Brent once again failed to break down the USD 48/bbl support level, but at the same time a move above USD 49/bbl quickly faded away and it closed flat at USD 48.8/bbl.

Maxim Korovin, Tatiana Zueva
VTB Capital analysts