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At
1134 GMT, the rouble gained 0.5% to 75.44 against the dollar,
its strongest level since Jan. 13.
The most likely range for the rouble in coming days is
74.50-76.50, Dmitry Polevoy, head of investment at LockoInvest,
said.
Versus the euro, the rouble firmed 0.6% to 86.38 .
The rouble has moved away from a near 15-month low of 80.4125
hit last month when Western powers threatened to impose more
sanctions if Russia invaded Ukraine. The Kremlin has denied
having any such plans.
The market will be keeping an eye on President Vladimir Putin's
meeting with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Monday.
The Kremlin said there could be an announcement about the
meeting after 1600 GMT.
Traders will also be looking ahead to Friday, when the Bank of
Russia is widely expected to raise its key interest rate from
8.5% in its fight against stubbornly high inflation.
Higher rates support the rouble by making investment into rouble-denominated
assets more attractive.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export,
was down 0.4% at $92.90 a barrel but traded near its highest
levels since 2014 of $94.00 it reached earlier on Monday. [O/R]
Russian stock indexes were up.
The dollar-denominated RTS index rose 1.1% to 1,451.3 points.
The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.2% higher at 3,477.8
points.
Shares in top Russian lender Sberbank rose 0.4% on the day to
257.7 roubles ($3.41) per piece after the bank said its net
profit increased by nearly 16% to 100.2 billion roubles in
January under the Russian accounting standards.
"We remain Buyers and see significant fundamental value which is
currently being overshadowed by geopolitical risk," Citi bank
analysts said of Sberbank results.
($1 = 75.5130 roubles)
(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Toby Chopra and Andrew
Heavens)
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