Russian Ruble, Ukraine’s Hryvnia jump as gas supplies resume

Russia’s ruble and the Ukrainian hryvnia strengthened as OAO Gazprom resumed shipments of natural gas to Europe after a two-week shutdown, Bloomberg reports.

The ruble snapped a four-day decline against the euro and the hryvnia appreciated to its highest level versus the dollar in six days after Russia’s gas exporter said it will ship about 430 billion cubic meters of gas today. Currencies in eastern Europe pared declines.

“The lack of gas was creating a negative dimension for industry,” said Roderick Ngotho, an emerging markets currency strategist in London at UBS AG. “The resumption of gas means industry can do the best it can given the current downturn in external demand without the added negative of disruptions to energy flow.”

The hryvnia strengthened as much as 2.8 percent to 7.8500 per dollar, the highest since Jan. 12. The ruble was up 0.5 percent at 43.4059 per euro by 1:16 p.m. in Moscow. Russia’s currency earlier weakened against the euro as the nation’s central bank devalued the ruble for the fifth straight day.