June 22 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble strengthened on Thursday, nearing a one-week high against the dollar, supported by relatively high oil prices and the prospect of upcoming month-end tax payments.
At 0818 GMT, the rouble was 0.6% stronger against the dollar at 83.52 and had gained 0.2% to trade at 91.86 versus the euro. It had firmed 0.3% against the yuan to 11.61.
The rouble weakened around 2% against the dollar last week, hitting a more than 14-month low, blighted by volatile swings in a low liquidity market, eliciting comments from senior officials, who suggested that an exchange rate of 80-90 per dollar was preferable.
The rouble should soon gain support from a month-end tax period that usually sees exporters convert foreign exchange revenues to settle local liabilities.
"As the peak of the tax period approaches, exporters are increasing the volume of foreign currency sales, but this phenomenon is temporary and will end soon," said Alexei Antonov of Alor Broker.
"From the middle of next week there is a high likelihood that the Russian currency will resume its depreciation."
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 0.2% at $76.97 a barrel, but trading higher than it has been for most of the last two weeks.
Russian stock indexes were mixed.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.3% to 1,060.7 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.3% lower at 2,812.1 points.
For Russian equities guide see
For Russian treasury bonds see (Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Alexander Smith)
