OREANDA-NEWS. In the week ended 30 July the ruble changed direction, falling 2.7% on Wednesday-Thursday against the bi-currency basket, which amounted to 37.58 (based on EUR&USD official rates) on Thursday. This represented a 2-week high. The ruble's reversal was caused primarily by lower oil prices. Also, since the tax payment period was over, market participants likely focused more attention on currency markets, reported the press-centre of OTKRITIE FC.

August is the traditional period for currency fluctuation, and we believe that this August could see a weakening of the ruble. The Russian government is interested in devaluation because it will provide the budget with additional income from revaluation of sovereign funds denominated in foreign currencies.

Moreover, on Thursday CBR issued a report detailing the country’s international currency reserves for the previous week (ended 24 July), revealing that Russia’s reserves increased by US4.3bn, climbing to US 402.4bn. To some extent this growth may be attributed to positive revaluation of the euro component of the reserves.