The ruble is now the worst-performing emerging market currency against the dollar while Russian demand for the yuan soars

• The ruble is now the worst-performing currency against the dollar among emerging markets this month.
• The ruble is down more than 16% so far in July after becoming the world's top-performing currency against the dollar earlier this year.

The Russian ruble is is now the worst-performing currency against the dollar among emerging markets this month.

The ruble is down more than 16% so far in July after becoming the world's top-performing currency against the dollar earlier this year.

After sinking to less than a penny versus the dollar, the ruble rebounded above levels seen before Russia invaded Ukraine as the central bank enacted strict currency controls and hiked rates in response to Western sanctions. The central bank has since started slashing interest rates as the strong ruble has hit the country's exporters.

Meanwhile, Western sanctions that froze Russia's foreign-exchange reserves have prompted a shift to other currencies, and exports to China have increasingly been paid for with yuan.

Now Russian demand for the yuan is jumping. Yuan-ruble trade doubled this week and hit a daily all-time high on Wednesday of 7.82 billion yuan, according to data from the Moscow Exchange compiled by Bloomberg. Trading volumes for the yuan-ruble pair are now ahead of euro-ruble trade, the data shows.

For the month, yuan-ruble trade hit 94 billion yuan in July compared t0 54 billion the month prior.