The ruble climbed to its strongest since May against the dollar as Brent crude oil traded above $100 a barrel for a third day, luring investors to the world’s largest energy exporter. Russia’s currency gained as much as 0.8 percent to 29.3941 per dollar, the strongest intraday level since May 4. It was 0.7 percent stronger at 29.4025 per dollar by 10:48 a.m. in Moscow, helping it add 0.3 percent to 34.4913 versus the target dollar- euro basket used by the country’s central bank to control swings in the currency that harm exporter competitiveness. Brent, which underpins Russia’s Urals crude oil prices, gained as much as 0.3 percent to $102.04 a barrel. Oil, along with natural gas, makes up about a quarter of Russia’s economic output. Brent has gained 7.4 percent this year, helping the ruble advance 1.8 percent against the basket, which has been used by Bank Rossii since 2005 to manage the currency. “Investors are selling dollars and buying rubles,” Denis Korshilov, head of foreign exchange trading in Moscow at Citigroup Inc. said by e-mail. “With Brent higher than $100 it looks like some capital inflow is taking place.” The ruble was little changed at 40.7080 per euro. The basket rate is calculated by multiplying the dollar-ruble rate by 0.55, the euro-ruble rate by 0.45, then adding them together. Bank Rossii buys and sells foreign currency to keep the ruble within a so-called “floating corridor” against the basket. The corridor has spanned 33 to 37 versus the basket since the beginning of the year, First Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev told reporters in Moscow yesterday. The central bank purchased “several hundred million dollars” to moderate the ruble’s gains in January, Ulyukayev said. Ruble-denominated government debt due 2016 fell for the first day this week, pushing the yield 4 basis points higher to 7.65 percent. The yield on sovereign dollar bonds maturing in 2020 was little changed at 5.11 percent. Dollar debt due 2015 was also steady, with the yield at 3.64 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Emma O’Brien in Moscow at eobrien6@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net

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