| Videos | Channels | Search |
what you need to know about the rouble
The Russian rouble is certainly getting easier to trade; Saxo Bank recently added rouble pairs to its platform. But there are a number of issues surrounding the Russian currency that investors must be aware of.
One of the major ones is oil, according to Saxo Bank's John Hardy. He says it's a real concern that Russia is not adding oil reserves; oil is near USD 110 a barrel and he warns that if it gets to USD 80 a barrel it would be a catastrophe for Russia.
However, he does say that Russians needn't worry about a Rouble default for now, although a collapse in the oil price could trigger this. The rouble is now ten times higher that it was in 1998, when oil in Russia was only USD 10 a barrel.
Another thing to bare in mind for investors is that the rouble isn't yet a totally free floating currency, but the Russian central bank has been announcing record interventions to help stability, and John says that this is "likely to continue."
He says they won't want the currency to be too weak, and they will continue to address this issue to ensure it stays as strong as possible.
01:31 minutes
Tags: commodities, commodity, currencies, currency, dollar, em assets, eurrub, flaoting currency, forex, forex markets, forex trading, fx, inflation, john hardy, markets, oil, rouble, rub, ruble, russia, russia ruble, russian central bank, russian government, russian ruble, saxo bank, saxo tv, trade idea, trader, trading fx, trading rouble, tradingfloor.com, usd, usdrub, video