USD/RUB posts modest gains near 96.40 amid geopolitical issue, focus on US Services PMI

USD/RUB trades with modest gains around 96.40 amid the Russian Ruble weakness.
Russia's Manufacturing PMI for August came in better than expected; the Unemployment Rate declined to 3.0% from 3.1%.
US Nonfarm Payrolls for August were better than estimated.

Lallalit Srijandorn FXStreet

USD/RUB extends its upside during the early European session on Monday. The pair currently trades near 96.40, unchanged for the day. The pair trades in positive territory for the third consecutive week amid the Russian Ruble's depreciation.

According to data published last week, Russia's S&P Global Manufacturing PMI for August came in at 52.7 versus the market consensus of 52.1. The figure climbed the highest in three months. Earlier, the Unemployment Rate for July declined to 3.0% from 3.1% in June and 3.2% market expectation.

Apart from this, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov forecast that the Russian economy is expected to grow by at least 2.5% in 2023, with inflation hovering around 6%. He also said that he would work with the Central Bank to take all necessary actions to bring inflation down to the appropriate level. It’s worth noting that the Bank of Russia hiked the interest rate by 350 basis points (bps) to 12% on August 15 to halt the ruble's slide amid the the turmoil in Ukraine war.

On the other hand, Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) for August in the US came in at 187K, exceeding the estimate of 170K and July's reading of 157K. The Unemployment Rate decreased considerably to 3.8%, compared to the market's estimate of 3.5% and the previous reading of 3.5%. The monthly Average Hourly Earnings increased by 0.2% instead of 0.3%.

Following the Nonfarm Payrolls report, the US Dollar (USD) fell across the board as traders expect the Federal Reserve to end the tightening cycle. However, the Greenback reversed its course after the US PMI data. The Manufacturing PMI improved to 47.6 versus 46.4 prior and better than the market estimation of 47.0.

Market players will take cues from the US Service PMI data due later this week and find opportunities around USD/RUB. The data could offer hints about the path of further interest rate decisions by the Federal Reserve (Fed)

USD/RUB

Overview
Today last price	60.95
Today Daily Change	-35.4550
Today Daily Change %	-36.78
Today daily open	96.405

Trends
Daily SMA20	95.8993
Daily SMA50	92.6142
Daily SMA100	86.8033
Daily SMA200	79.5882

Levels
Previous Daily High	96.72
Previous Daily Low	95.215
Previous Weekly High	97.057
Previous Weekly Low	93.3715
Previous Monthly High	102.38
Previous Monthly Low	90.8215
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	96.1451
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	95.7899
Daily Pivot Point S1	95.5067
Daily Pivot Point S2	94.6083
Daily Pivot Point S3	94.0017
Daily Pivot Point R1	97.0117
Daily Pivot Point R2	97.6183
Daily Pivot Point R3	98.5167

Author

Lallalit Srijandorn

FXStreet

Lallalit Srijandorn is a Parisian at heart. She has lived in France since 2019 and now becomes a digital entrepreneur based in Paris and Bangkok.

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