Aug 17 Reuters The Russian rouble steadied near 95 against the dollar on Thursday, in a volatile week filled with speculation over how the authorities might stabilise the currency after a 350basispoint rate hike seemed to have a limited effect.

The Bank of Russia jacked up its key rate to 12 on Tuesday, an emergency move to try and halt the rouble39;s recent slide past the symbolic 100 threshold, but analysts agreed that more measures may be needed to return the rouble to the 8090 range authorities have deemed acceptable.

By 0803 GMT, the rouble was 0.1 weaker against the dollar at 94.73 .

It reached a near 17month low of 101.75 against the dollar on Monday and briefly traded at 92.60 on Tuesday morning.

The rouble had gained 0.1 to trade at 103.08 versus the euro . It had firmed 0.1 against the yuan to 12.89 .

Authorities are discussing bringing back the compulsory sale of foreign currency revenues for exporters, five sources told Reuters. Beyond rate hikes and capital controls, Moscow has some other options, though none particularly favourable.

The Vedomosti daily late on Wednesday reported that mandated FX sales would not be reintroduced for now and that exporters had informally agreed to raise sales.

But a highlevel source told Reuters an update was possible at any moment, saying that the Vedomosti story largely focused on the government39;s point of view in a broad coalition holding talks.

On the 25th anniversary of the rouble39;s 1998 devalutaion, which…