On Friday, the Russian rouble lost most of the gains it had achieved versus the US dollar during the previous session, as the prospect of forthcoming month-end tax payments provided only a small amount of support in the face of dramatically falling oil prices.

The rouble's value versus the dollar was at 76.65 at 1038 GMT, down 0.9%. It reached an all-time high of 75.7125 on Thursday. In terms of the euro, it increased by 0.4% to trade at 82.28, moving further away from the more than 11-month low it hit in the previous session. It decreased by 0.2% to 11.13 against the yuan.

According to Banki.ru's chief analyst Bogdan Zvarich, the key factor supporting the national currency is the impending peak in tax payments, which begins early next week and increases exporters' supply of foreign currency. The primary export from Russia, Brent crude oil, was down 3.3% at $73.4 per barrel, closing in on the more than one-year low recorded earlier this week.

The rouble suffers from reduced oil prices because there is a chance that less foreign exchange will come in from Russian exports. Geopolitical unpredictability and Western sanctions on Russian energy exports are limiting the rouble's potential for strengthening, which is also contributing to general risk aversion. There would be people prepared to buy dollars to hedge rouble bets before the weekend due to the present geopolitical unrest, predicted Alexei Antonov of Alor Broker.

The rouble may become more expensive on Monday through Tuesday, thus exporters may become more active at any time. The Russian stock indexes were inconsistent.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.8% at 981.9 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was unchanged at 2,389.0 points.

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