Russian rouble flat ahead of rate decision this week

By 0730 GMT, the rouble was unchanged at 87.70 RUB= against the dollar.

The central bank's governor, Elvira Nabiullina, earlier said that the regulator's board will focus on the size of an interest rate increase during Friday's meeting. A more aggressive hike will support the rouble.

Sanctions on Moscow Exchange MOEX.MM and its clearing agent, the National Clearing Centre (NCC), led to a range of varying prices and spreads as trading shifted to the over-the-counter (OTC) market on June 14, obscuring access to reliable pricing for the Russian currency.

Against the yuan, which had already become the most traded foreign currency in Moscow before the latest sanctions were imposed, the rouble was also flat at 11.97, according to an analysis of the OTC market.

The rouble weakened by 0.4% to 95.80 against the euro EURRUB=.

Brent crude oil LCOc1, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.4% at $82.94 a barrel.