Off the wire
• China, ASEAN vow to maintain peace on South China Sea  • Croatian parliament adopts decision to exit border arbitration with Slovenia  • Eurozone household real income up in Q1  • Tibet to build 6.4 bln USD natural drinking water industry  • Top court to tighten commutation, parole granting  • China pledges more reform on tourism development  • Roundup: Indian apex court rejects last mercy plea by convicted terrorist in Mumbai bombings  • Roundup: Nuclear deal to improve Iran-France ties: Rouhani  • 1 killed, 6 injured in SW China axe attack  • Spotlight: Abe's senior aide blurts inconvenient truth about ruling camp's contempt for law, constitution and democracy  
You are here: 　 Home

Russian Central Bank freezes currency purchases amid rising volatility

Xinhua, July 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Russian Central Bank on Wednesday froze the purchases of foreign currency after ruble dropped to the lowest level in months.

Operations were suspended on Tuesday in order to replenish the international reserves considering the rising volatility on the domestic foreign exchange market, the regulator said in an online press release.

The bank reiterated that the scale of its foreign currency purchases would be adjusted to minimize the effect on the exchange market.

The Russian currency exchange rates on Wednesday dropped to the lowest levels since March, reaching 60.22 rubles per U.S. dollar and 66.62 per Euro amid falling oil prices and negative signals of global economy.

Before the Central Bank announcement, the ruble gained slightly against the dollar and the euro in the opening trade session, as the oil market's signals of stabilization also contributed to the uptrend.

The bank in June announced its intention to increase its gold and currency reserves in order to compensate for the significant capital outflow predicted for the next two to three years.

The regulator planned to bring the amount of its international reserves to the comfort level of 500 billion U.S. dollars, and started since mid-May purchasing foreign currency in domestic foreign exchange market by an daily average of 100 to 200 million dollars to replenish the foreign currency reserves. Endi