The rouble gained some ground against the US dollar yesterday (1 August) due to improved risk appetite.

News that the US managed to reach an 11th hour deal to raise the country’s debt ceiling and avert default buoyed investor appetite for commodity currencies on a global basis. The change in attitude marked the first improvement in four days and helped the rouble to gain 0.4 per cent to 27.5075 to the dollar at around 10:00am in Moscow, Bloomberg reported.

Meanwhile, Russian stocks were helped by stronger oil prices, as well as the growing risk appetite, which helped to offset a weak purchasing managers’ survey. Demand for Russian dollar debt also improved further, according to the JPMorgan EMBI+ emerging market debt index.

Commenting on the currency situation, Andrey Khokhlov, a trader at Inteza bank, told Reuters: “The rouble may be rising early in the day driven by higher oil prices and by the US news, but we don't expect it to rise significantly because the European debt problems have not gone anywhere and still hold back risky purchases.”

The news follows last week’s update, when the rouble firmed to its strongest level against the euro-dollar basket since late 2008 due to the weakness of the US dollar.