Moody's, the debt rating agency, has warned that it could downgrade 18 private sector banks as fears grow of a Russian banking crisis.

The news helped pushed the rouble lower against the dollar sending it close to 2004 lows before recovering to R29.10/$1 at 2.15GMT, according to the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange. The falls were in part a reaction to news that Yukos, the stricken oil group, had missed a deadline to pay $3.4bn of taxes.