Russian rouble steadies, market assessing impact of Prigozhin plane crash

[ASFN Admin]

The Russian rouble steadied on Thursday as a favourable month-end tax period approached, but domestic uncertainty was high following the possible death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, in a plane crash. Russia's most powerful mercenary, Prigozhin was on board a plane which crashed on Wednesday evening north of Moscow with no survivors, Russian authorities said, two months to the day after he led an abortive mutiny against the army top brass. The rouble strengthened sharply last week after hitting a near 17-month low of 101.75 to the dollar, as the central bank hiked its key rate by 350 basis points to 12% and exporters increased selling of their foreign currency revenue following discussions with Russian authorities.

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