Russia Tries Emergency Steps for Second Day to Stem Ruble Plunge
December 17th, 2014Via: Bloomberg:
Russia tried for a second straight day to reverse a rout in the ruble with emergency measures, narrowing President Vladimir Putin’s options in confronting the country’s deepest financial crisis since 1998.
The ruble rose after the Finance Ministry announced that it bought the currency. The rebound came after a plunge yesterday in the wake of the central bank’s increase in interest rates to 17 percent from 10.5 percent. The ruble’s down 52 percent this year.
“Certainly, there’s a panic in the markets,” Vitaly Isakov, a money manager at Otkritie Asset Management in Moscow, said by e-mail. “The Finance Ministry is sending a signal that it sees the ruble as seriously undervalued and that at current levels it makes sense to sell dollars.”
