MOSCOW, Jan 22 (Reuters) - The rouble reversed early losses to strengthen on Monday, supported by state foreign currency interventions and the prospect of an upcoming month-end tax period that usually supports the Russian currency.
By 1112 GMT, the rouble was up 0.5% against the dollar at 87.73, its strongest since Jan. 17. It had gained 0.6% against the euro to 95.61 and had firmed 0.5% against the yuan to 12.16.
"During today's session, we expect the rouble to try to switch to strengthening as exporters increase foreign currency sales ahead of the peak of tax payments which falls on Jan. 25," said Bogdan Zvarich of the Banki.ru financial services marketplace.
State FX sales, carried out by the central bank, are set to amount to the equivalent of 16.7 billion roubles ($190.3 million) of foreign currency a day until the end of January. The finance ministry switched to making sales from purchases after December oil-and-gas revenue was lower than expected.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, rose 0.1% to $78.63 a barrel.
Russian stock indexes were up.
The dollar-denominated RTS index rose 0.7% to 1,138.3 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index inched up 0.1% to 3,170.5 points.
For Russian equities guide see
For Russian treasury bonds see ($1 = 87.7775 roubles) (Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Christina Fincher)
