Russian ruble slumps again on news of eurozone risk

The official rate of the Russian ruble fell 45 kopecks against the dollar to 31.38 on Thursday as Europe's plans to resolve its debt crisis stalled and prices for oil, the country's key export, edged down. French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Germany on Wednesday to try to forge an agreement on how to tackle the debt burden with German Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of a Sunday's European leaders' summit, but said afterwards the effort was wasted. "Investors still follow developments in the euro zone, sticking to any bit of news and either sell or buy the European currency," Promsvyazbank said in a research note. "Thus, yesterday afternoon news about...Sarkozy's visit to Frankfurt...(market) players were buying the risk, but closer to the trade's end, when first news from the meeting appeared, the situation started changing, and investors resumed selling the risk." Oil prices also dropped due to disappointment with the meeting - Brent crude slipped below $108 after previous session's 2.5 percent plunge. On the equities front, the ruble-denominated RTS stock index dropped 1.72 percent to 1,413.93 from yesterday's close and the dollar-denominated MICEX exchange index fell 1.06 percent to 1,405.41 by 12.17 Moscow time.