March 6 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble made a renewed

attempt to push towards the 89 mark against the U.S. dollar on

Thursday, continuing to trade in a relatively narrow band as

traders closely follow geopolitical developments.

The rouble is up against the dollar this year, mostly thanks

to expectations of improved relations between Moscow and

Washington that could produce some kind of conflict resolution

in Ukraine and a possible easing of sanctions against Russia.

By 0950 GMT, the rouble was up 1.2% at 89.30 to the

dollar in over-the-counter market trade. Morning gains have

evaporated in every session this week and the rouble has

depreciated for six sessions in a row since reaching a more than

six-month high in late February.

Against the yuan, the most traded foreign currency in

Russia, the rouble was down around 0.6% to 12.30.

Without accounting for changes in the geopolitical

situation, the rouble's fair value against the dollar remains

close to triple digits, Renaissance Capital analysts Oleg Kuzmin

and Andrei Melashchenko said in a note.

"The potential for a stronger exchange rate forming depends

on the degree of improvement in the situation with geopolitics

and sanctions," they said.

Any geopolitical positivity can cause the rouble to rise by

another 5%-10%, said Dmitry Polevoy, head of investment at Astra

Asset Management, expecting the rouble to return to the 95-100

range in the second half of the year.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's

main export, was up 0.4% at $69.59 a barrel, after falling to

the lowest since late 2021 in the previous session.