MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian currency strengthened to 68.27 rubles per dollar by 12:10 GMT, rallying from late Wednesday's quotes of around 70 rubles per dollar.
The ruble also rallied against the dollar on Wednesday, with the US currency falling by 1.9 rubles per dollar.
A similar trend took place with the euro, which fell from a peak of around 90 rubles per euro on February 11 to 77.5 rubles per euro on Thursday.
The Russian Central Bank set the official exchange rate at 71.01 rubles per dollar for Thursday. Friday's rate has been set at 68.56 rubles per dollar for Friday. The Central Bank also reduced its rate for the euro, setting it at 77.16 rubles per euro for Friday, down from Thursday's 78.75 rubles per euro.
The ruble's Thursday rally followed rising oil prices, which increased around 5 percent on Wednesday and Thursday after the Doha output freeze deal meeting was scheduled for April 17 on Wednesday.
The dollar fell against many currencies on Thursday following the US Federal Reserve's decision to leave its interest rate unchanged despite widespread expectation of higher interest rates.
