Russian rouble up on higher oil prices

MOSCOW, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble firmed versus the dollar on Thursday as oil prices hit their highest level since mid-2015 after the shutdown of a North Sea pipeline knocked out significant supply from a market already tightening due to OPEC-led production cuts.

At 0800 GMT, the rouble was 0.36 percent stronger against the dollar at 58.79 and had gained 0.46 percent to trade at 69.20 versus the euro.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 1.1 percent at $65.40 a barrel.

Britain's Forties oil pipeline, the country's largest at a capacity of 450,000 barrels per day (bpd), shut down on Monday after cracks were revealed.

The rouble was also supported by an increase in Russia's current account surplus, which was 1.8 times higher in January-November than in the same period last year at $35.6 billion because of better foreign trade, the Russian central bank said on Monday.

Analysts at Rosbank, a subsidiary of Societe Generale in Moscow, said they expected the current account surplus to further increase in December.

"This will smooth the seasonal constraints of currency liquidity," they said.

Russian stock indexes tracked oil prices higher.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.41 percent to 1,149 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index, previously known as MICEX, was just 0.14 percent lower at 2,145 points.

Shares in Russian business conglomerate Sistema, fell around 1.8 percent after it ceded control of Detsky Mir, the country's largest toy retailer, by selling a 5 percent stake in for around $56 million.

Shares in Detsky Mir fell more than 7 percent after the announcement to trade at 93.8 roubles per a share on the Moscow Exchange.

For rouble poll data see reuters://realtime/verb=Open/url=cpurl://apps.cp./Apps/fx-polls?RIC=RUB=

For Russian equities guide see

For Russian treasury bonds see

Russia in graphics: http://link.reuters.com/dun63s (Reporting by Polina Nikolskaya; Editing by Jack Stubbs and Peter Graff)

Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.