The rouble steadied near 94 to the dollar on Monday after one of its most volatile weeks all year that saw it recover from past the 100 mark following an unscheduled rate hike to 12% and support from exporters' foreign currency sales.
At 0721 GMT, the rouble was 0.2% stronger against the dollar at 93.56 and was unchanged at 101.90 versus the euro. It had firmed 0.4% against the yuan to 12.78.
The Bank of Russia's 350-basis-point hike followed the rouble's slide to a near 17-month low of 101.75 to the dollar, hit last Monday. The currency strengthened to an over two-week high of 92.55 on Thursday.
Analysts said more measures may be needed to return the rouble to the 80-90 range authorities have deemed acceptable, but subsequent reports that capital controls may be reintroduced seemed to be having the desired effect.
Authorities were discussing bringing back the compulsory sale of foreign currency revenues for exporters, five sources told Reuters. Two sources subsequently said FX sales were being increased informally, with exporters being told to sell as much as possible and provide weekly updates.
Russia could support the rouble in other ways, though none are particularly favourable.
As the end of the month approaches, the rouble also has the support of tax payments, where exporters usually convert foreign revenues into roubles to meet local liabilities.
"The rouble will be supported by the approaching peak of the tax period," said Alor Broker's Alexey Antonov in a note. "However, it's not worth hanging especially strong hopes on that, as the nature of trading clearly showed that exporters increased their FX sales last week."
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.9% at $85.60 a barrel.
Russian stock indexes were higher.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.5% to 1,052.6 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.8% higher at 3,137.4 points.
