The ruble is getting slammed as oil prices fall

The Russian ruble is getting slammed in a topsy-turvey day.

The currency is down by 1.2% at 65.0994 per dollar as of 1:37 p.m. ET.

Meanwhile, Brent crude oil is down by 2.4% at $50.72 per barrel.

The ruble generally tracks oil closely. Meaning, when the commodity's prices go down, the ruble does, too - and vice versa.

Earlier in the morning the currency strengthened by 0.4% to 64.6032 per dollar after the Central Bank of Russia slashed rates for the first time in nearly a year.

"Looking ahead, the key point is that today's move is likely to be the start of a series of interest rate cuts," wrote Capital Economics' Neil Shearing and Liza Ermolenko in a note to clients after the decision.

"The central bank will have room to lower interest rates further - indeed, a failure to do so would lead to a sharp rise in real interest rates that could snuff out the nascent economic recovery," they added. "All told, we expect the one-day repo rate to be cut to 9.0% by the end of this year and to 6.0% by end-2017."

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