MOSCOW, Oct 18 Reuters The rouble firmed slightly in early trade on Wednesday, but stayed in the 9798 range it settled in after Moscow imposed capital controls last week to shield the Russian currency.

At 0616 GMT, the rouble was 0.1 stronger against the dollar at 97.61 and had gained 0.1 to trade at 103.42 versus the euro . It had shed 0.1 against the yuan to 13.33 .

Since Monday, 43 groups of exporting firms were required to deposit no less than 80 of foreign currency earnings with Russian banks and then sell at least 90 of those proceeds on the domestic market within two weeks, the government said last week.

The rouble jumped about 3 in one session last week after President Vladimir Putin signed a decree mandating the reintroduction of capital controls similar to those imposed shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Moscow has said it will not publish the list of companies affected.

Fears about the fate of the rouble forced the Kremlin to act more decisively in support of its stability, said Finam Brokerage analyst Alexander Potavin. A simple raising of the key rate was not enough to bring about exchange rate strengthening, as the Russian debt market is now cut off from external platforms due to sanctions and internal restrictions.

The Bank of Russia hiked its key interest rate to 13 in September, following on from an emergency 350basispoint hike in August as the rouble tumbled past the 100 threshold to the dollar.

Therefore, the authorities…