The Russian ruble is surging

Markets Insider

The petro-currency is up by 1.6% at 64.1455 per dollar as of 7:39 a.m. ET on soaring Brent crude oil prices, which are up by 7.8% at $51.02 per barrel amid renewed OPEC optimism.

Members of the cartel are meeting in Vienna, Austria in an attempt to reach a deal to cut production.

On Wednesday morning, Reuters reported that a delegate from the Iraqi contingent said that "there will be an agreement today," while the Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said "I'm optimistic."

As for the rest of the world, here's the scoreboard as of 7:44 a.m. ET:

• The Japanese yen is down by 0.8% at 113.27 per dollar. Earlier, industrial production rose 0.1% in October, in line with expectations. Separately, the Shoko Chukin survey showed that small business confidence held steady at 48.3 in November. This suggests that "the economy is treading water," wrote Marcel Thieliant, senior Japan economist, at Capital Economics. "Meanwhile, there are signs that the recent weakening of the exchange rate is boosting price pressures."
• The euro is little changed at 1.0640 against the dollar. Earlier, eurozone CPI rose 0.6% year-over-year in November, in line with expectations, while German unemployment rate came in at 6.0%, in line with expectations.
• The Indian rupee is up by 0.2% at 68.496 per dollar after the latest data showed that India's economy grew by 7.3% year-over-year in the third quarter, compared with 7.1% in the second. However, the data "requires two major caveats," writes Shilan Shah, India Economist at Capital Economics. "The first is that the national accounts figures remain difficult to align with other indicators showing that activity is subdued by past standards. The second is that attention has already turned to the impact of the government's demonetisation measures, which could cause significant disruption in the current quarter and possibly beyond."
• The US dollar index is up by 0.2% at 101.16.
• The British pound is down by 0.3% at 1.2457 against the dollar.