MOSCOW, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble eased towards its weakest since mid-January against a globally stronger dollar on Wednesday, breaking out of the relatively narrow band it has traded in for the last few sessions amid increased local demand for foreign currency.
By 1251 GMT, the rouble was 0.1% weaker against the dollar at 91.42, reaching its lowest level since Jan. 9, bar two sessions, on Jan. 16 and Feb. 9, that saw sudden, sharp spikes that traders attributed to an algorithmic trading error by a major player.
It had lost 0.1% to trade at 97.83 versus the euro and shed 0.4% against the yuan to 12.60 .
The share of yuan transactions on Russia's foreign exchange market reached a record high 50.6% in January, according to the Bank of Russia, but in February, with China observing Lunar New Year holidays, the Russian market is facing an acute shortage of yuan, according to data and experts.
Yuan balances on Russian banks' correspondent accounts outside Russia fell by more than a quarter to $6.8 billion in early 2024, the lowest since June 2022.
Yuri Belikov of Expert RA said this could also be due to tightened compliance from foreign banks. Bloomberg reported last month that Chinese state-owned banks had begun tightening curbs on funding to Russian clients for fear of secondary U.S. sanctions.
The rouble has lost some support this month as the state slightly reduced its daily FX sales.
Month-end tax payments usually support the currency as exporters convert foreign currency revenues to pay local liabilities, though Alor Broker's Alexei Antonov said that in the last few months exporters have tended to spread their rouble purchases across the month, somewhat softening the tax period's impact.
Higher oil prices, which hit a two-week peak on Tuesday, have also buttressed the rouble in recent sessions.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.1% at $82.87 a barrel.
Russian stock indexes were mixed.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.2% to 1,121.1 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was unchanged at 3,254.1 points. (Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
