Russian ruble fluctuates but holds its ground
The ruble fluctuates between minor gains and losses against the dollar and euro on Friday
By James Slavyanski
MOSCOW
Once again, the ruble gained against the dollar and euro on Friday morning, only to lose ground at midday, then rally again in the evening.
By late Friday afternoon the Russian currency managed to reach 59.30 against the dollar, and 72.92 against the euro. The RTS stock index began to rise again, reaching 763.59 by 5:30 p.m. (1430GMT).
The price of oil also rose to $60.61 a barrel.
Earlier Friday, the Russian State Duma passed legislation increasing compensation for bank depositors from 700,000 rubles to 1.4 million rubles.
The ruble's fate is still uncertain as the government and central bank struggle to recover from the currency's catastrophic plummet in value on Tuesday. The ruble lost over 20 percent of its value in one day after the central bank announced its highest interest rate hike since 1998, when the government defaulted on its debts.
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