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 At 6:10 a.m. ET, the rouble was around 2.2 percent stronger at 60.13
to the dollar <RUBUTSTN=MCX>, and had gained 2.6 percent to trade at
73.77 to the euro <EURRUBTN=MCX>.
The rouble has seen intense selling pressure this week, and at one
stage was down about 20 percent against the dollar, putting at risk
the stability on which President Vladimir Putin has built his
popularity.
The currency was on track to end the week over 2 percent lower,
though the market remains volatile amid thin trading volumes.
Analysts at Rosbank said the rouble could stabilize at around 60 to
62 per dollar on what they called the central bank's conservative
approach to rouble liquidity, and the expansion of its forex repo
mechanism.
Government pressure on exporters not to hoard their foreign exchange
revenues is seen as another positive for the rouble, which is now
down some 45 percent against the dollar this year.
The end-of-month tax period begins in earnest next week, when
Russian exporters have to convert their overseas earnings into
rubles to pay taxes to the state budget.
Siluanov said early on Friday that the rouble would definitely firm
at the beginning of next year. His verbal interventions are seen as
part of government efforts to support the Russian currency.
Analysts also said that foreign-currency buying by ordinary
Russians, which had applied pressure to the exchange rate in recent
days, was likely to fade as the rouble firms.
"The frenzy of retail FX buying is receding but will likely maintain
pressure on the rouble going into the weekend," analysts at Sberbank
CIB investment bank said in a note.
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So far this year, the central bank has spent over $80 billion
defending the currency, which has been hit by a collapse in oil
prices, as well as by Western sanctions over Ukraine, which have
dented investors' appetite for Russian risk.
The bank has, however, scaled back its support for the rouble since
last month, when it floated the currency.
Russia's stock market suffered new falls on Friday, bucking
generally bullish sentiment on global markets.
The dollar-denominated RTS index <.IRTS> was down 1.5 percent to 753
points, while its rouble-based peer MICEX <.MCX> traded 2.3 percent
lower at 1,442 points. Both indexes were on track to end the week
lower.
The business conglomerate Sistema <AFKS.MM> again led the
best-performing stocks, rising by over 15 percent a day after its
share price more than doubled.
Appetite for Sistema has been boosted by the release of its chairman
from house arrest and hopes that a criminal investigation into both
the company and its chairman will be dropped.
(editing by Elizabeth Piper and Kevin Liffey)
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