MOSCOW, Nov 25 Reuters The Russian rouble strengthened on Friday, trading in a narrow range between 60 and 61 to the dollar as it has for much of the week, supported by exporters buying roubles to cover monthend tax payments.

At 0710 GMT, the rouble was 0.3 stronger against the dollar at 60.50 and had gained 0.5 to trade at 62.90 versus the euro . It had firmed 0.3 against the yuan to 8.43 .

The rouble has been painting a similar picture of late, said Alexei Antonov of Alor Broker, rising for most of the day and giving up gains in the last two hours of trading.

This trading pattern is likely to continue today, Antonov said.

The rouble is supported by a monthend tax period in which exporters usually convert foreign exchange revenue into roubles to pay domestic liabilities.

Brent crude oil , a global benchmark for Russia39;s main export, was up 0.3 at 85.6 a barrel.

Russian stock indexes were mixed.

The dollardenominated RTS index was up 0.4 to 1,150.9 points. The roublebased MOEX Russian index was 0.1 lower at 2,209.6 points.

Market participants were fairly inactive during the previous session, said Sinara Investment Bank. The one bright spot was the dynamics of Veon securities.

The Amsterdamlisted telecoms operator39;s shares soared after it announced plans to sell its Russian business, Vimpelcom, to senior members of the Vimpelcom management team, for 130 billion roubles 2.2 billion.

1 60.5300 roubles

Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Robert Birsel…