The dollar exchange rate at the beginning of trading on the Moscow Exchange dropped below 66 rubles. The ruble is strengthening against the backdrop of rising oil prices, which have risen by $0.8 since the beginning of the day.

Photo: Nikita Popov / RBC

The exchange rate of the dollar at the beginning of trading on April 19 fell below 66 rubles, as of 10:09 Moscow time its value was 65.7 rubles. At the same time, the European currency was trading around 74.5 rubles.

The decline in currencies against the Russian ruble occurred against the backdrop of rising oil prices. June Brent oil futures as of 10:15 Moscow time on Tuesday rose to $43.7 per barrel. with an opening price of $42.91.

As Reuters notes , the reason for the rise in oil prices was also a workers' strike in Kuwait, where production fell to 1.1 million from 2.8 million barrels per day.

However, analysts expect that the production cut in Kuwait will be short-lived and markets will soon re-orient to oversupply, given the inability of major exporters to agree on a production freeze, the agency adds.

On April 17, negotiations between the largest oil producers took place in Doha, the capital of Qatar. They lasted about six hours, but ended without signing an agreement .

According to the head of the Russian Ministry of Energy, Alexander Novak, a number of OPEC countries unexpectedly changed their position on the freeze just before the meeting. “This is Saudi Arabia and a number of countries that are members of OPEC, including the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar itself, conditionally the Gulf countries,” he explained.

Before the start of the summit, Sberbank CIB released a review in which it was predicted that the failure of negotiations would entail a reduction in oil prices to $35|barrel. and an increase in the dollar exchange rate to 70–75 rubles.

Today, VEB Deputy Chairman Andrei Klepach said that Vnesheconombank will maintain its oil forecast of $35/barrel.

The exchange rate of the dollar fell below 66 rubles.