Ruble and stocks continue free-fall

The official rate of the Russian ruble for tomorrow settlement fell by 48 kopecks against the dollar to 32.58 on Monday amid fresh worries about the eurozone debt crisis. The value of the bi-currency basket, comprising $0.55 and 0.45 euros, increased 28 kopecks to 37.49 rubles as of 10:01 a.m. Moscow time, one kopeck short of the central bank's upper band of the currency corridor. "(The ruble fell) as the price for oil, stock markets and the euro rate against the dollar fell," Globex bank said in a research note. "We are now trading near the central bank's upper band of the bi-currency basket ... and market participants are likely to make use of the (central bank's) offer again by buying the bi-currency basket and thus pushing the upper band of the currency corridor higher." Debt-laden Greece admitted over the week-end that it will miss its budget deficit target, a necessary precondition for the release of a new bailout tranche by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union. Reports differ on whether and how talks ended between the Greek government and the IMF, the European Central Bank and the European Commission. The Russian ruble-denominated RTS stock index fell 2.95 percent to 1,301.54 by 12:02 Moscow time, while the index of the dollar-denominated MICEX exchange lost 1.46 percent to 1,346.56. In Europe, the FTSE100 fell 2.49 percent to 5,000.69, the DAX lost 3.49 percent to 5,310.17, the CAC40 went down 2.83 percent to 2,897.49 as of 12:06 a.m. Moscow time. The markets will be watching a meeting later this week between EU finance ministers on the widening of the European Financial Stability Facility authority and Greece's debt problems.