BLBG:Ruble Gains Third Day On Rising Oil Ahead Of ECB Meeting
The ruble strengthened for a third day as oil gained and investors awaited an annoucnement from the European Central Bank on its bond-buying plan.
The ruble advanced 0.3 percent to 32.1973 at 12:24 p.m. in Moscow. Russia’s currency was little changed versus the euro at 40.65 and rose 0.2 percent against the central bank’s target euro-dollar basket. Non-deliverable forwards showed the ruble at 32.6609 per dollar in three months.
Oil advanced for a second day in New York and Brent crude was 0.8 percent up at $113.95 per barrel. ECB President Mario Draghi’s plan to lower borrowing costs involves unlimited buying of government debt with maturities of up to about three years, two central bank officials said yesterday on condition of anonymity.
“The ruble today is being influenced by the positive sentiment on global markets,” Alexey Egorov, an analyst at Nomos Bank in Moscow, said by e-mail. “The expectation that the ECB may start buying EU state bonds from the secondary market is pushing investors in favor of risk.”
The extra yield investors demand to own Russia’s dollar bonds over U.S. Treasuries fell six basis points to 210, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s EMBI Global Index. An index of five-year government bond yields compiled by the Micex fell more than five basis points to 7.552 percent.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lyubov Pronina in London at lpronina@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net
