A view shows Russian ruble coins in this illustration taken October 26, 2018. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

March 23 (Reuters) – The Russian ruble jumped briefly in Moscow on Wednesday to hit a three-week high of 95 against the dollar, before stabilizing near 100, after President Vladimir Putin said Russia would start to sell its gas to “hostile countries” in roubles.

The potential ramifications of the move, which Putin has ordered his government to sort out within a week, could boost the Russian currency, as a host of European countries still depend on Moscow for much of their energy supplies.

As of 1:13 p.m. GMT, the ruble was up 3.4% against the dollar at 100.02, earlier rising to 94.9875, its highest level since March 2. It had gained 3.5% to trade at 110.50 against the euro.

The ruble had stabilized near 105 to the dollar in recent sessions after falling to a record low of 120 in Moscow this month and even further in the interbank market at 150.

Russia has been hit by unprecedented Western sanctions over events in Ukraine, what it calls a “special operation”, which began on February 24.

Before that, the ruble traded at around 80 per dollar.

Trading in OFZ bonds resumed this week, and the Bank of Russia announced that some stock trading would resume on March 24 after a nearly month-long hiatus, with 33 stocks included in the benchmark IMOEX index (.IMOEX) should be traded on the Moscow Stock Exchange for a limited time and with a ban on short selling. Read more

PAYMENT BY COUPON

Russia appears to have avoided a default on its external debt by paying a coupon on a sovereign Eurobond, maturing in 2029, in US dollars. A bondholder said payment had been received.

But Russian holders of domestic corporate Eurobonds are facing delays in receiving payments settled by international agents, as transactions are blocked by sanctions, Russia’s National Settlement Depository (NSD) has said. , companies and analysts. Read more

Demand for ruble cash declined as the central bank sold 800 billion rubles ($7.7 billion) in a one-day “fine-tuning” auction on Wednesday, down from days previous ones.

“Demand at overnight repo auctions is falling rapidly,” brokerage firm Veles Capital said in a note, explaining that even as banks’ liquidity levels fell to their lowest since June this year last, lenders repay previous repo debts to the central bank.

OFZ STABLE BONDS

Trading on the OFZ bond market continued for a third day after it closed in late February.

The central bank said last week it would start buying OFZ bonds to limit volatility, after keeping its benchmark rate at 20% following an emergency rate hike in late February. Read more

The central bank has so far not disclosed the extent of its interventions in the OFZ market that have helped stabilize prices and provide additional liquidity to the financial system.

Yields on benchmark OFZ 10-year bonds, which move inversely to their prices, stood at 13.90% on Wednesday after hitting a record high of 19.74% on Monday. ($1 = 103.9070 rubles)

Reuters reporting; Editing by Edmund Blair, Bernadette Baum and Alex Richardson

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