The Russian ruble on Monday hit its highest level against the dollar since last October, touching 62.1672 at about 6:30 a.m. ET.

It has backtracked slightly since then and was up 0.9% at 62.3073 per dollar as of 8:17 a.m. ET.

The ruble’s strength comes as Brent crude oil is trading above $50 a barrel.

When the ruble had strengthened back in July, Russian President Vladimir Putin drew attention to the currency’s appreciation.

As for the rest of the world, here’s the scoreboard as of 7:48 a.m. ET:

    The British pound was down by 0.9% at 1.2864 against the dollar. On Sunday, British Prime Minister Theresa May said the UK would trigger Article 50 - i.e., the process of separating the UK from the European Union - before the end of March 2017. The US dollar index is little changed at 95.52 ahead of a heavy data day. Markit manufacturing PMI will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET, while construction spending and ISM manufacturing are both due out at 10 a.m. ET. The Japanese yen is little changed at 101.39 per dollar after Japan's Tankan Larger Manufacturers Index came in at 6 for the third quarter, below expectations of 7, while the Tankan Large Non-Manufacturers Index came in at 18 as expected. The Chinese yuan was officially added to the International Monetary Fund's SDR basket on Saturday. The Mexican peso is up by 0.9% at 19.2184 per dollar. The euro is little changed at 1.1235 against the dollar.