by Edward Hugh: Barcelonabr /br /br /The Russian ruble strengthened the most in more than three months against the dollar yesterday (gaining 1.7 percent to 32.2247 per dollar at one point) as oil rebounded above $60 a barrel and OAO Sberbank reported better-than-expected earnings. Sberbank shares jumped 5.1 percent after first-quarter net income turned out to be above analyst estimates. But the rise was also helped by the fact that Russia’s central bank spent approximately $2 billion from reserves to try to stop the ruble from falling yesterday, taking central bank reserve spending over the two working days since they lowered interest rates half a percantage point on Friday to around $4 billion, a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchiveamp;sid=aTqgrOY1vdEo"according to reports in the newspaper Kommersant/a.br /br /Russia’s central bank cut its main interest rates for the fourth time in less than three months at the end of last week after the government estimated the ...

Russian stocks rose the most in two weeks today as investors bought into an equity market that now has the cheapest valuations in two years. In particular OAO Rosneft, Russia's biggest oil producer, surged as crude oil prices rose for a fourth day. Bank Vozrozhdenie and AFI Development Plc gained after reporting earnings. Crude for October delivery rose as much as $1.74, or 1.5 percent, to $119.89 a barrel in New York as meteorologists forecast Tropical Storm Gustav will be the most damaging since Hurricane Katrina. The ruble-denominated Micex Index climbed 2.6 percent to 1,337.02 at 4:05 p.m. in Moscow, its biggest gain since Aug. 11. The dollar-denominated RTS Index rose 2.4 percent to 1,626.65, a second day of gains. The RTS has retreated more than any other major stock market so far this quarter as Russia sent troops into Georgia, falling oil prices ...