The ruble moved between gains and losses against the dollar after the biggest protests in Moscow during Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s time in office and before debt auctions in Italy and France that may signal Europe’s debt crisis is worsening. The Russian currency appreciated as much as 0.3 percent before weakening less than 0.1 percent to 31.465 as of 12:07 a.m. in Moscow. A fall today would be the eighth consecutive day of depreciation, the longest losing streak since January 2009. The ruble was 0.4 percent stronger at 41.85 per euro, leaving it little changed at 36.1521 against the central bank’s target dollar-euro basket. As many as 25,000 people gathered in central Moscow Dec. 10 to protest the alleged electorial fraud in parliamentary elections on Dec. 4. France and Italy are due to sell a combined 13.5 billion euros ($18 billion) of short-term debt today, while the yield on Italy’s 2-year notes jumped 28 basis points to 6.238 percent, a one-week high. The protests “are compounding concerns over weaker oil and slower global growth,� Johannesburg, South Africa-based Tradition Analytics wrote in an e-mail. “They will result in increased political uncertainty being priced into the ruble.� Russia’s $3.5 billion of bonds due 2020 fell for the first day in four, pushing the yield up four basis points to 4.581 percent. The yield on Ruble debt due 2021 was one basis point higher at 8.56 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Jack Jordan in Moscow at jjordan22@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net

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