Rouble again falls in value against major currencies

Moscow, Dec 17 (IANS/EFE) The Russian rouble fell against the dollar and the euro shortly after the Moscow currency market opened Wednesday, after the previous day's "black Tuesday" when it plunged by 20 percent.

But the rouble recovered slightly by the end of Wednesday's trading.

A few minutes after the opening, the dollar rose by 4.42 roubles to reach 71.92 roubles to a dollar, while the euro rose 5.85 roubles to reach 91 roubles to a euro.

But soon the rouble began to strengthen and the dollar dropped to 67.5 roubles and the euro to 85 rubles.

Meanwhile, the Moscow stock market's RTS index opened unchanged to remain at 629.15 points, after falling 12.41 percent Tuesday.

However, minutes after starting operations, the RTS rose 4.5 percent.

So far this month, the RTS index has lost 34.35 percent, while it has fallen 55 percent since the beginning of the year.

It was reported that the Central Bank of Russia spent about $2 billion Monday to try to stabilise the national currency, battered by falling oil prices and Western economic sanctions on the country.

--IANS/EFE

ab/vt