USD/RUB in a tight range near 56.40

The Russian Ruble has recovered some ground after the initial dip vs. its American counterpart, now taking USD/RUB to the 56.40/35 band.

USD/RUB supported near 55.80

The pair is advancing for the second session in a row today, finding some buyers after bottoming out in the 55.80 region last Friday, levels last seen in July 2015.

Collaborating with RUB-weakness, the barrel of Brent crude stays steady around the mid-$53.00s after climbing as high as the boundaries of $53.80, 4-week tops.

Data wise, Russian manufacturing PMI eased a tad to 52.4 during March from February’s 52.5, while the key ISM Manufacturing is due later in the US docket, along with speeches by New York Fed W.Dudley (permanent voter, centrist), Philly Fed P.Harker (voter, hawkish) and Richmond Fed J.Lacker (2018 voter, hawkish).

In another direction, RUB stays underpinned by the speculative community, as net longs climbed to the highest level since mid-December during the week ended on March 28, according to the latest CFTC report.

USD/RUB levels to watch

At the moment the pair is up 0.24% at 56.40 facing the next hurdle at 56.52 (high Mar.31) followed by 58.19 (high Mar.22) and finally 59.60 (high Mar.22). On the flip side, a break below 55.88 (2017 low Mar.31) would aim for 53.02 (low Jun.18 2015) and then 49.06 (low May.18 2015).