Ruble Falls Against Currency Basket as It Slides Versus Dollar

By Emma O'Brien

Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Russia's ruble fell against a dollar- euro currency basket used by policy makers to contain its fluctuations. It dropped versus the dollar and pared gains against the euro.

The managed Russian currency slipped 0.3 percent against the basket to 29.9131 at 11:23 a.m. in Moscow, from 29.8319 yesterday. The basket is made up of about 55 percent dollars and 45 percent euros.

The ruble dropped 0.6 percent per dollar to 24.9333, from 24.7883. Against the euro, it traded at 35.9580 after earlier advancing as high as 35.8663.

Russia's central bank keeps the ruble within a trading band versus the basket to limit the effect of fluctuations on the competitiveness of the country's exports.

The Federal Statistics Agency releases its weekly inflation update today. Consumer price growth was unchanged at 9.5 percent in the year through Aug. 25.

To contact the reporter on this story: Emma O'Brien in Moscow at eobrien6@bloomberg.net