Russia's central bank said on Thursday it would now set the rouble rate based on the results of interbank operations in the over-the-counter foreign exchange market each day at 3:30 p.m. (1230 GMT), after new U.S. sanctions forced a Moscow trading halt.

The bank said it has been calculating official exchange rates in this way since October 2022 and that the divergence from the official exchange-traded rate for the dollar and euro has showed only "insignificant deviations" in that time. (Reporting by Maxim Rodionov and Alexander Marrow; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)