MOSCOW — The weighted average exchange rate for tomorrow deals was 28.68 RUR/USD at the beginning of today’s Unified Trading Session. This is RUR 0.05 below the official exchange rate set by the central bank of Russia for July 20.

This is the first time that the dollar weakened against the ruble since July 15. On Monday and Tuesday, the U.S. currency rose RUR 0.1 against the ruble, and the Russian currency is now bouncing back.

The dollar’s slide against the ruble is due to its weakening vs. the euro on international foreign exchanges. The euro is currently trading at $1.2073, against $1.2009 a day before. So, the European currency has strengthened by 0.5 percent against the dollar.

Earlier this month, analysts predicted that the dollar’s rise would be short-lived. They say the U.S. currency would rise to a maximum level in the autumn. Yaroslav Lisovolik, at the Unified Financial Group, commented: “The euro is weakening due to political events and fears of the euro zone disintegration. Those fears are strongly exaggerated, and they will be corrected in the autumn.”

For his part, Vladimir Tikhomirov, chief economist at UralSib, thinks by the end of the year, investors would be more concerned about U.S. economic problems - budget and balance of trade deficits. The dollar might rise to 1.15 USD/EUR on good economic news from the U.S., but strong correction was likely after that, Tikhomirov reckons.