Russian Central Bank Gold Purchases

Russian Central bank has not ruled out further rate cuts, gold purchases before year-end MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's central bank does not exclude further rate cuts before the end of 2009 and may buy gold from the state repository, Gokhran, the bank's first deputy chairman, Alexei Ulyukayev, said on Monday. "We will buy (gold) only if conditions are adequate," Ulyukayev told reporters. Last month, Russian media reported that the government planned to sell 25 tonnes of gold, possibly on the local market, from the repository. Ulyukayev said Monday that the regulator may further cut its benchmark lending rates this year. The central bank has administered eight cuts this year, bringing its benchmark refinancing rate to annualised 9.50%. Easing inflationary pressures have been the main factor allowing the regulator to facilitate its monetary policy and provide a stimulus for domestic lending. On Friday, Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach said inflation may return to single digits and be as low as 9% this year -- significantly below the government's earlier official estimate of around 11%. Separately, Ulyukayev said the central bank has bought more than $1 billion in November on the foreign exchange market to cap the appreciation of the rouble. The vast majority of the purchases came on Monday amid increased interest from investors in the rouble and its instruments, pressuring the Russian currency to firm further. Early on Monday, the central bank shifted its intervention bid level to 35.25 roubles per euro/dollar basket RUS=MCX, used for guiding the rouble's nominal exchange rate policy, from the previous 35.30, after buying as much as $700 million on the forex market, dealers said. At 0940 GMT the rouble traded at 35.26 against the basket, nearly 8.5% stronger from the levels seen early September when the rouble's rally began. Ulyukayev also said the central bank had no plans to invest again in U.S. mortgage agency bonds. "We have fully exited from them and we have no plans to go back," Ulyukayev said. (Reporting by Yelena Fabrichnaya, writing by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Toby Chopra) © Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved