OREANDA-NEWS. September 25, 2009. The ruble continued strengthening against both the bi-currency basket and the dollar. Under pressure both on Russian and global markets, the greenback dipped below the RUB30/US mark during trading on 23 September, reported the press-centre of OTKRITIE FC.

The dollar’s weakness was the main factor in the US 0.8bn increase of Russia’s international reserves (to US 411.7bn) in the week ended 18 September. The ruble appreciation trend abated on Thursday, as the Russian currency depreciated to 36.50 against the bi-currency basket (EUR & USD official rates). A week ago it stood at 36.88. The dollar appreciated to 30.06 because of strengthening on the global market after a statement by the Fed.

View: This week the ruble was supported by taxes that caused low liquidity in the banking system. The tax period ends on Monday, when corporate income taxes are paid. After that, the ruble is likely to depreciate. We believe that the ruble will not appreciate in the mid-term and expect the rate to reach RUB35/US  by the end of the year, depending of course both on economic conditions and political decisions by policymakers on both sides of the ocean.