Rouble weakens as oil prices fall; investor eyes on Fed policy

MOSCOW: The Russian rouble weakened ahead of two government bond auctions on Wednesday, under pressure from lower oil prices and as investors await the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy decision.

At 07:40 GMT, the rouble was 0.2% weaker against the dollar at 76.84 and had lost 0.2% to trade at 82.73 versus the euro, earlier clipping an 11-month low of 82.9650.

The rouble had firmed 0.2% against the yuan to 11.14 , extending the previous session's gains after a Moscow summit between presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping at which the Chinese currency's growing role in Russia's economy was discussed. Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 0.8% at $74.7 a barrel.

Lower oil prices harm the rouble as they create risks of lower foreign currency inflows from Russian exports. General risk aversion is also at play, with geopolitical uncertainty and Western sanctions on Russian energy exports limiting the rouble's room to strengthen. Russia's finance ministry will hold two OFZ treasury bond auctions on Wednesday.

Investor attention globally is focused on whether the Fed will stick to its hawkish path to fight sticky inflation or pause interest rate hikes given recent trouble among banks which has included bankruptcy and last-minute rescues. Russian stock indexes were lower.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.7% to 976.5 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.6% lower at 2,382.8 points.