USD/RUB looks to surpass 81.66 on rumor of Russian military action

• USD/RUB is looking to overstep 81.66 on rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
• The risk-off impulse seems to remains intact amid the geopolitical jitters.
• The rumour of military action by Russia has kept investors on their toes.

USD/RUB has been consolidating in a narrow range of 81.48-81.63 in the early Asian session amid the declaration of emergency by Ukraine. The tensions between the Kremlin and Ukraine have escalated on a rumour that Russia could begin military action at 4 am local time (please note that this is a market rumour, not a fact-checked at the time of writing).

The expectations of an imminent invasion of Ukraine by Russia strengthened after the Russian administration ignored the phone call requests from Ukraine.  The ignorance from Russia had vanished the obscurity over the Russia-Ukraine tensions and the odds of a war between the two elevated.

The US Secretary of State Antony John Blinken said that he believes that Russia will invade Ukraine before the night is over, as reported by NBC News. This has put safe-haven assets on fire and global markets into sell-off. Risk-sensitive assets have lost their ground and one of the most sensitive assets: the Russian ruble is set to nosedive again.

USD/RUB Technical Analysis

On an hourly scale, USD/RUB has witnessed a juggernaut upside move after violating Tuesday’s high at 80.97. The 50-period and 200-period Exponential Moving Average (EMA) are scaling higher, which indicates a continuation of the bullish momentum.

USD/RUB hourly chart