Russian rouble recovers ground in light holiday trade

The Russian rouble firmed on Thursday, recovering some of the previous session's losses in light holiday trade, helped by higher oil prices.

At 0734 GMT, the rouble was 0.5% stronger against the dollar at 91.53. In early trade it had dipped to its weakest point since Dec. 25 of 92.4850.

It had gained 0.2% to trade at 100.03 versus the euro . It had firmed 0.3% against the yuan to 12.72 .

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.7% at $78.79 a barrel.

Since October and the rouble's most recent slide to 100 against the dollar, a presidential decree forcing exporters to convert some foreign currency revenue has supported the Russian currency, as have elevated interest rates, which were hiked to 16% last month.

The central bank said in late December it would sell 11.8 billion roubles ($128.92 million) of foreign currency a day in addition to monthly operations it carries out on the finance ministry's behalf, another measure buttressing the Russian currency.

Russian stock indexes were higher.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.7% to 1,080.2 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.3% higher at 3,138.8 points.