Moscow. 22 July. INTERFAX.RU – The US dollar and the euro strengthened on the Moscow Exchange following the results of Friday’s trading, the ruble fell against the dual-currency basket after the unexpected decision of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation to cut the key rate more than expected.

The US dollar exchange rate was 57.29 rubles/$1 at 19:00 Moscow time, which is 64.25 kopecks higher than the closing level of the previous trading session. The euro cost 58.3 rubles/EUR1, having risen in price by 1.06 rubles. The cost of the dual-currency basket ($0.55 and EUR0.45) increased by 82.8 kopecks to 57.75 rubles.

According to Interfax-CEA experts, following the results of trading on Friday, the ruble fell against the dollar and the euro on the decision of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia to reduce the key rate from 9.5% to 8% , which was unexpected for the market. The consensus provided for a rate cut of only 50 bp, and although after the publication on July 20 of information about a significant decrease in inflation expectations of the population and weekly deflation at the level of almost 0.2%, analysts’ forecasts began to sound steps of 75 and 100 bp more often ., the variant with 150 points did not appear anywhere.