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Russia today revealed it sold a record $ 11.3 billion in foreign currency to support the ruble on March 3, during a "Black Monday" of panic selling over the crisis in Ukraine which analysts say rattled the Kremlin.
The Russian central bank sold foreign currency to buy rubles and prevent the Russian currency from falling further in value, after the market reacted with shock to parliamentary approval for President Vladimir Putin's request to allow military action in Ukraine.
The information was disclosed in the Russian central bank's daily information release of currency interventions and no further details were given.But the central bank had indicated on Monday that it was prepared to make major interventions, saying that due to the increased volatility it was assessing the market situation on a daily basis.
"This measure was adopted to prevent the risks for financial stability by limiting the ruble exchange rate fluctuations," it said in a statement Monday.
Russian news agencies said that the amount of foreign currency sold by the central bank on Monday was by far the most since records began, beating the previous record from September 2011 by about five times.Russia's total foreign currency reserves amounted to $ 493.4 billion as of February 21, meaning that the central bank sold just over two% of its reserves in one day of trading on March 3.
Traders had already indicated the Russian central bank had made colossal interventions on Monday but this was the first time the bank's own data confirmed the magnitude of the activity.The intervention appears to have been successful, with the ruble rate now stabilising after "Black Monday", when the Russian equity markets also tumbled over 10%.
In early afternoon trade today, the ruble was trading at 36.14 to the dollar and 49.65 to the euro. At the close of trade in Moscow on Monday, the ruble had been trading at record low values of 36.44 to the dollar and 50.22 to the euro.
