Russian rouble strengthens against dollar ahead of tax payments day

MOSCOW, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble strengthened against the U.S. dollar and China's yuan on Monday ahead of the corporate tax payments day before which exporters convert forex earnings into roubles.

By 1315 GMT, the rouble RUB= was up 0.6% at 79.24 against the dollar in over-the-counter trade, and by 0.5% at 11.09 against the yuan on the Moscow Stock Exchange, where the Chinese unit is the most traded foreign currency.

The rouble had also received support from the central bank's decision to raise its key interest rate by a symbolic 50 basis points to 16.5% last week, sufficiently high to maintain the attractiveness of rouble-denominated assets.

"Traditionally in favour of the rouble is the approach of peak tax payments and increased demand for rouble liquidity from exporters," said Maxim Timoshenko from Russian Standard Bank.

"In the short term, the rouble may be supported by the decision of the Russian regulator regarding the key interest rate, which, despite a 0.5% reduction, remains high, along with a fairly strict signal from the regulator," he added.

Some traders, who declined to be identified, said that repatriation of foreign currency by Russian oil firms Rosneft and Lukoil ahead of new U.S. sanctions against them taking effect on November 21, also supported the rouble.