While geopolitics continues to have an influence on Russian markets, the ruble is supported by a favorable end-of-month fiscal period. Having traded at nearly 61 to the dollar on Friday, it strengthened against the euro and the yuan.

After opening at 61,1125, the ruble was 0.1% stronger against the dollar at 61.31, its strongest point since October 10. Thus, it had strengthened by 0.5% against the yuan at 8.40, and gained 0.6% to trade at 60.22 against the euro, peaking earlier at a high of more than two weeks. In its note, Veles Capital makes it appear that “the Russian currency is continuing to consolidate on the back of the fiscal period.”

For its part, the Chinese yuan resumed its weakening trend against the dollar on Friday. It has moved closer to the lowest levels reached during the 2008 global financial crisis. As for the greenback, it is soaring due to heightened expectations of further increases in American interest rates.

After a Bloomberg report that China would consider reducing the COVID-19 quarantine time for incoming travelers, the yuan received some support on Thursday 20 October 2022. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the median rate at 7,186 per dollar, 2 pips higher than the previous rate of 7,188 before the market opened on Friday.

The onshore yuan opened at 7.2320 per dollar and changed hands at 7.2462 at midday, 302 pips lower than the previous end-of-session and 1.8% lower than the midpoint on the spot market.

In the morning exchanges, it reached an intraday low of 7,2479 and was close to a 14-year low of 7,2521 reached at the end of September. The noon price was less than 0.2% away from reaching the lower end of the trading range while the fix on Friday, October 21, 2022 allows the onshore yuan to trade within a range of 6.9762 to 7.2610.