Rouble heads for biggest one-day fall since 1998

MOSCOW, Dec 1 (Reuters): The rouble fell about 4 per cent on Monday as the price of oil plunged again and despite talk that the central bank was intervening for the first time since floating the currency last month.

By 1315 GMT, it was down 3.8 per cent at 52.41 against the dollar and 3.5 per cent lower at 65.39 versus the euro, still on course for the biggest daily fall since the 1998 financial crisis.

The rouble had lost about 6 per cent during the session against both currencies, plumbing all-time lows of 53.95 against the dollar and 67.30 against the euro, as oil slid below $70 a barrel - a big blow for the world's No. 2 oil exporter.

Oil benchmark Brent futures were hovering just above a five-year low, at $69.6 per barrel, weighed down by weak manufacturing data from China and last week's decision by OPEC not to cut oil production to support prices.

OPEC's shock decision means markets are increasingly pricing in the likelihood of cheap oil for an extended period, causing a fundamental reassessment of Russian asset prices, analysts said.

Oil and gas account for about two thirds of Russia's exports and half of federal budget revenues, making its economy and asset prices heavily dependent on global energy prices.

Traders said the rouble's relatively sudden rally in the afternoon pointed to central bank intervention. The central bank declined to comment.

"The central bank is definitely in the market," said one trader at a major Western bank in Moscow.

A financial market manager at a large Russian bank said, "What is now happening - this is the central bank (selling forex), judging by how sales are on the exchange,"

The central bank has not intervened in the foreign exchange market since it floated the rouble on Nov. 10, saying it would do so only if it considered the rouble's fall a threat to financial stability.