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Rate Hike Fails to Stop Ruble Crash

Russian currency is in freefall; next step for officials may be capital controls.

By Vladimir Kuznetsov and Ksenia Galouchko, Bloomberg | Updated on December 16, 2014

The ruble plummeted into a freefall, losing as much as 19 percent as panic swept across Russian financial markets after a surprise interest-rate increase failed to stem the run on the currency.

The ruble plunged to as weak as 80.10 per dollar, a record low, before trading at 72.90 by 5:18 p.m. in Moscow, as Russians scrambled to convert their money into dollars amid concern the government will implement currency controls to slow the outflows. Bonds fell as the RTS stock index tumbled the most in almost six years. Government officials will gather to discuss the financial crisis engulfing the country.

“I am speechless,” Jean-David Haddad, an emerging-market strategist at OTCex Group in Paris, said in a message. “What a failure for the central bank. Russia would need to announce capital controls today. That is the last solution.”

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