OREANDA-NEWS. Yesterday, RUB continued to trade within a narrow range amid subdued trading activity (MICEX turnover printed only USD 2.7bn). The oil market was trading in the red, but RUB demonstrated a remarkable resilience, hovering most of the session near the 57.00 mark, which has proved to be a strong resistance level for USDRUB in the last few days. In the evening, after the close of the Moscow session, RUB even attempted to strengthen, but still closed flat at 56.96 against USD. In turn, Brent lost 1.2%, slipping to USD 55.7/bbl.

Red ink dominated throughout the EM markets, with the EM FX index falling 0.5%. Amid the news about a terror attack in Turkey, TRY underperformed, plunging 1.7%. In addition, THB dipped 0.7%, followed by MXN and ZAR, which slid 0.5-0.6%. Commodity-based currencies traded mixed, with NOK falling 0.8% and NZD gaining 0.7%.

At the 28-day FX repo auction, the CBR offered USD 1.1bn, which was taken in full amid USD 1.2bn of demand (the weighted average rate printed 2.20%). On a net basis, it was a rollover of maturing funds this week, so on Wednesday banks’ FX repo debt to the regulator remained nearly flat at USD 32.8bn.