MOSCOW, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The Russian central bank bought $700 million in the first minutes of trade on Tuesday before moving its intervention level by 5 kopecks and allowing the rouble to scale fresh highs, dealers said.
The central bank has been allowing the rouble's floating corridor to move by 5 kopecks for each $700 million of interventions as part of its policy to keep exchange rate fluctuations gradual.
The rouble strengthened as far as 35.71 against a
euro-dollar basket according to Reuters data
"Already in the first 10 minutes (of trade on Tuesday) they bought $700 million, they had their fill," said a trader at a major Western bank in Moscow, adding that the intervention barrier was now thought to be located at 35.70. (Reporting by Toni Vorobyova and Andrei Ostroukh; editing by Maria Kiselyova)