Rouble drops to 3-week low on low liquid interbank market after MOEX sanctions

The rouble fell to a near three-week low against the dollar on the interbank market on Thursday, albeit amid very low liquidity in pre-market trading, after new U.S. sanctions on Russia forced the Moscow Exchange to halt dollar and euro trading.

The dollar's previous close, on the eve of Wednesday's national holiday, was 89.10 to the dollar.

On the interbank market, it reached as low as 91.4955 as some banks took speculative positions ahead of the official launch of bids at 0650 GMT.