Ruble only major emerging market currency to gain against US dollar in September

The Russian national currency, the ruble, was reportedly the only emerging-market currency to appreciate against the US dollar last month despite Washington’s threat of expanded curbs on purchasing the country’s state debt.

“In September, the currencies of developed markets fell by up to 2% against the dollar, while some currencies of emerging markets, including Brazilian real, Hungarian forint, Thai baht, dropped about 5%, with Turkish lira declining by an enormous 7%,” FX and Rates Strategist at SberCIB Investment Research Yuri Popov said, as quoted by TASS.

Meanwhile, the growth of the ruble versus the greenback totaled 0.68%, data tracked by Bloomberg shows.

According to Popov, the strong ruble is attributable to the latest increase of the key rate by the Bank of Russia, along with inflows of foreign funds to ruble-denominated OFZ federal bonds, which amounted to 110 billion rubles ($1.5 billion) in September.

“The main factor is the rise in oil and gas prices, which should continue until the end of the year, and without talks about new sanctions, the ruble should be even higher,” Iskander Lutsko, chief investment strategist at ITI Capital, told Bloomberg.

Both analysts expect the Russian currency to strengthen to 71 per dollar in October.

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