MOSCOW, July 15 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble

strengthened slightly against the dollar on Monday after the

government lowered a mandatory foreign currency sales

requirement on major exporters to 40% from 60% over the weekend.

By 0753 GMT, the rouble was 0.7% higher at 87.30

against the dollar.

Sanctions on Moscow Exchange and its clearing

agent, the National Clearing Centre (NCC), led to a range of

varying prices and spreads as trading shifted to the

over-the-counter (OTC) market on June 14, obscuring access to

reliable pricing for the Russian currency.

A requirement to sell 80% of foreign currency earnings was

introduced to support the rouble in October 2023, and then

reduced to 60% in June. The government made the announcement

about the new cut on July 13.

The Russian central bank has said that compulsory forex

sales have helped to calm volatility in the rouble market,

allowing for controls to be relaxed. In its latest financial

markets risk report for June the regulator said currency sales

by exporters remained strong.

Analysts have estimated that foreign currency sales are

well above the government's threshold, while the measure was

likely to support the local stock market whose main

index hit over two-year highs on May 20 but has been steadily

declining since then.

"Lowering the threshold for the sale of foreign currency

plays in favour of the stock market," said Alexei Golovinov,

chief analyst at Promsvyazbank, pointing out that avoiding

excessive rouble strengthening is positive for exporters'

securities.

The index was 0.4% lower on Monday. Shares in VTB Bank

traded around 0.2% higher at 99.85 a piece as trading

resumed after the lender conducted a reverse share split, which

raised the value of each individual share by 5,000 times.

Against the yuan, which had already become the most traded

foreign currency in Moscow before the latest sanctions were

imposed, the rouble was unchanged at 11.97, according to an

analysis of the OTC market.

It was down 0.3% at 96.14 against the euro.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's

main export, was down 0.2% at $84.83 a barrel but generally held

ground despite political uncertainty in the U.S. and the Middle

East.