Russia's ruble hits new record low as oil price adds pressure

Russia's ruble slumped Monday to new all-time lows against the euro and dollar despite the central bank spending billions to defend the currency as the spillover from the Ukraine crisis and falling oil prices pummel the economy.

The ruble dropped to 51.27 to the euro, breaking through a previous low seen in March in the wake of Moscow's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine.

The national currency also briefly dropped against the dollar to a record rate of over 40.50, falling further from the psychologically important mark of 40 to the dollar that it broke through last week.

The fresh slump came after Russia's central bank chief Elvira Nabiullina said it had pumped some $6 billion into propping up the currency over the past ten days.

Nabiullina however ruled out establishing a fixed exchange rate in a bid to stop the decline.

"Setting a fixed exchange rate would, in my opinion, be a counterproductive decision and in contradiction of market factors," Russian news agencies quoted her as saying.

VTB Capital warned that an increasingly worried population was beginning to watch the ruble "more closely" but said that there was not yet a rush to convert rubles into foreign currencies.

"All focus remains on the local currency, given the (central bank's) consistent interventions and the population's increasing jitters, as it hovers around the psychologically important level of 40," to the dollar, Alfa Bank wrote in a note to clients.