Published by Uma Rajagopal
Posted on August 25, 2022
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Russian rouble stabilised near 60 against the dollar on Thursday, lacking new momentum, while shares in TCS, owner of Russia’s Tinkoff Bank, and retailer M.Video-Eldorado fell after earnings reports.
At 0718 GMT, the rouble was little changed on the day at 59.86 against the dollar and eased 0.4% to trade at 59.77 against the euro on Moscow Exchange.
Rouble volatility has subsided after wild swings that saw it hit a record low of 121.53 to the dollar in Moscow trade in March, soon after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine. It then rallied to a seven-year peak of 50.01 in June.
Year-to-date, the rouble has become the world’s best-performing currency as a result of capital controls and strong prices for Russia’s exports, such as oil and natural gas.
High energy prices have also helped Russia’s economy avoid the meltdown that many experts predicted but hardships are still emerging for some Russians.
High inflation dents living standards of Russian households whose inflation expectations have increased despite a weekly decline in the consumer price index in the past seven weeks.
On the stock market, the dollar-denominated RTS index rose 0.6% to 1,189.2 points and the rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.3% higher at 2,255.4 points.
Shares in M.Video-Eldorado underperformed the market and fell 2.2% after the company reported a widening net loss for the first half of 2022, as it saw dramatic shifts in the macroeconomic landscape and consumer sentiment.
Moscow-traded depository receipts in TCS shed 0.6%, extending Wednesday’s losses after the group said its first-half net profit dropped to a five-year low, hit by higher funding costs and conservative provisioning.
(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
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