OREANDA-NEWS. On Friday, trading action was relatively slow as international desks were half-empty owing to the Easter holidays, with total USDRUB turnover in the MICEX reported at USD 2.8bn. Overall, RUB opened flat at 56.55, but quickly slipped to 57.15 against USD in the absence of USDRUB offer from international investors. However, towards the end of the day, RUB recovered and went on to close at 56.67 vs. USD. Price action in the EM FX universe was more cheery. Specifically, ZAR firmed 1.2% against USD, TRY and SGD increased 0.5%, so the EM FX index closed 0.5% in the black. Commodity-based currencies were trading 0.5-0.6% stronger, NZD rose 1.2%. Today, the CBR is due to hold two FX repo auctions, while banks need to refinance USD 4.2bn of maturing FX funds this week. Meanwhile, RUB kicked off on a stronger footing this morning thanks to the decent recovery in the crude oil market with Brent trading 3.3% up at USD 56.0/bbl.

Maxim Korovin, Tatiana Zueva
VTB Capital analysts