The ruble weakened the most against the dollar in seven weeks as oil, Russia’s chief export earner, fell for a sixth day in New York and traded under $85 a barrel. Russia’s currency depreciated 1.1 percent to 28.3745 per dollar as of 10:42 a.m. in Moscow, the biggest intraday drop since June 16. It has weakened or remained unchanged against the greenback every day since July 26. The ruble was 0.6 percent weaker at 39.97 per euro, leaving it down 0.8 percent at 33.5914 against the central bank’s target dollar-euro basket. Oil fell for a sixth day in New York, slipping below $85 a barrel and heading for its biggest weekly drop since May, on speculation that fuel demand may falter as U.S. economic growth stalls and Europe’s debt crisis worsens. Crude for September delivery dropped 3.6 percent to $83.50 a barrel. “The oil developments are bad, putting the ruble under pressure for sure,” Denis Korshilov, the Moscow-based head of fixed income, currencies and commodities in Russia at Citigroup Inc., said by e-mail. Investors can expect the losing streak to continue “because of global developments,” he said. “It looks like a recession is coming.” Russian government bonds rose, pushing the yield on the dollar Eurobond due in 2020 down two basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 4.171 percent. The yield on the ruble Eurobond, due 2018, rose six basis points to 6.84 percent. Non-deliverable forwards, which provide a guide to expectations of currency movements and allow companies to hedge against them, show the ruble at 28.67 per dollar in three months, compared with 28.4067 yesterday. To contact the reporter on this story: Jack Jordan in Moscow at jjordan22@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alex Nicholson at anicholson6@bloomberg.net

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