MOSCOW, Aug 20 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble recoveredagainst the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, after touching a six-monthlow, on optimism for an easing of the U.S.-China trade standoffand an expected boost in demand for the currency to meetdomestic tax payments.
The rouble was 0.4% stronger at 66.60 to the dollarat 1423 GMT, having weakened to 67.11 in earlytrading, its lowest since Feb. 14. It gained 0.3% against theeuro to trade at 73.89.
After a recent sell-off, the rouble is no longer one of thetop three best-performing currencies. The Egyptian pound,the Thai baht and the Ukrainian hryvnia havestrengthened more so far this year.
"In the near future, we can expect the return of investors'interest in the rouble, which retains the potential forstrengthening," said Andrey Kochetkov, an analyst at OtkritieBroker.
The rouble was set to receive support from monthly taxpayments when export-focused companies convert foreign currencyrevenue to meet local liabilities.
Tax payments are seen withdrawing around 1.7 trillionroubles ($25.50 billion) in August, according to analysts atBank Saint-Petersburg.
The price of oil, Russia's main export, edged lower onTuesday amid concerns over demand, but optimism for an easing inU.S.-China trade tensions and hope that major economies willtake stimulus measures to ward off a potential economic slowdowncapped losses.
Brent crude oil was down 0.5% trading at $59.38 abarrel.
The dollar-denominated RTS index rose 1% to 1,259points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.7%higher at 2,666 points.
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($1 = 66.6760 roubles)(Reporting by Anna Rzhevkina; Additional reporting by VladimirAbramov; Editing by Mike Harrison)