AKIPRESS.COM - The Russian ruble continued weakening early Monday and slid below 38 per dollar for the first time ever, pressured by concerns about new sanctions.

The ruble came under strong selling pressure in March, when Moscow first indicated its readiness to annex Ukraine's region of Crimea. Capital flight bruised the ruble in the days that followed and new western sanctions after the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 sent the Russian currency to fresh lows.

The ruble touched 38.0380 in early trade on Monday, before recovering slightly to 37.98, but it was down 0.5% on the day. This takes the ruble's year-to-date drop against the greenback to 13.6%, reports Wall Street Journal.

The latest round of western sanctions, hitting Russia's major oil companies, increases the risks of retaliation from Moscow, which would make a diplomatic solution to the crisis more complicated, ING said in a research note.

A decision by the Bank of Russia to put interest rates on hold late last week was taken by the market as an indication that the bank wasn't planning to substantially tighten its monetary policy, adding to the pressure on the ruble. The central bank, which used to sell dollars and euros from reserves to prop up the ruble, last intervened in the market in May.

But the ruble may enjoy some support from Russia's export-focused companies that usually convert their dollar and euro revenues in the second half of every month to meet monthly tax duties that have to be paid in rubles.

Versus the euro, the ruble was down 0.44% Monday at 49.17.