By Denis Maternovsky

Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble weakened to a seven-week low versus the dollar as oil traded near $71 a barrel.

The Russian currency depreciated 0.5 percent to 30.4838 per dollar by 11:15 a.m. in Moscow, heading for its weakest close since Dec. 22. It was little changed per euroe, declining less than 0.l percent, to 41.6844.

Oil prices have risen from as low as $33.98 a barrel in February to as high as $83.95 on Jan. 11, boosting the revenue prospects for the world’s biggest energy exporter. Crude for March delivery was 2 cents lower at $71.17 in New York.

The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 35.5325 against the central bank’s target currency basket, which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters.

The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollar’s rate to the ruble by 0.55, the euro to ruble rate by 0.45, then adding them together. The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan. 22 to defend. 

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=apcZzxe83hWI