(Reuters) – The Russian rouble climbed to a record-breaking one-month-high in Moscow trade Tuesday. It also surpassed 88 per dollar. Stocks gained some ground during the fourth session of trading since the suspension, which lasted nearly a month.

After a prolonged suspension by the West, which followed what Russia called “a special operation in Ukraine” on February 24, 2017, Russia’s market is slowly reopening.

The rouble had risen 2% to 88.00 against the dollar by 0914 GMT. It was earlier at 87.40 and its highest level since February 28th. The rouble lost 0.3% against the euro to trade at 95.89, after having briefly touched a one-month peak.

Offshore trade saw the rouble slightly weaker at 89.75 USD on the EBS electronic marketplace.

Iskander Lutesko, chief investment strategist of ITI Capital, stated that Russia is switching to rubles for gas export payments. Exporting firms are being required to convert 80% in foreign currency earnings into rubles. These two strong drivers support the Russian currency.

Lutsko spoke out about the Russian stock markets, saying that “the market now really depends upon progress in negotiations with Russia and Ukraine.” The two sides had met in Turkey for face-toface talks.

STOCKS RECOVER

Russian stock markets are restricted and subject to various restrictions. This includes a ban against short-selling. The sale of stocks or OFZ rouble bonds to non-residents is prohibited until April 1. The trading volume is much lower than average.

RTS, a dollar-denominated index, was up 10.2% at 907.1 point. 2.533.6 Points higher was the MOEX Russian, which is calculated in roubles.

Evgeny Suprov, CentroCredit Bank economist, stated that the MOEX index’s total capitalisation is six times less than Apple’s market capitalization (NASDAQ:).

Aeroflot flag carrier, which is one of the most volatile securities, rose 12.7%. Rosneft oil company was 9.8% larger and Sberbank, the dominant state lender, was up 7.7%.

Moscow-listed shares, and some depositary receipts from companies that have primary listings overseas returned to trading Tuesday.

Nasdaq’s tech giant is listed Yandex (NASDAQ) Moscow saw shares rise 8.1% and depositary receipts from London-listed Fix Price rose about 25%.

EUROBOND TEST

Russia’s finance minister said that Tuesday’s payment of a coupon for the Eurobond due in 2035 had been paid. It was its third payout after unprecedented Western sanctions called Russia’s ability to pay foreign currency debt into doubt.

Russia’s 10-year OFZ benchmark treasury bonds fell to 13.36%. It is further from the previous week’s record of 19.74%. While it was below Russia’s central bank’s key rate, yields are still lower than they were in 2015. The price of yields is inversely proportional to the value.