Trading under the electronic fixing system was scrapped amid a lack of supply of dollars, which drove the rouble down to new lows, a spokesman told AFP.

``the supply of dollars was very low,'' the spokesman said. ``Trading has been cancelled until further notice,'' he said, adding that it would not be resumed today.

The rouble was fixed at 16.99 to the dollar on Friday, but lost further ground in street trading over the weekend. With a busy-sell spread of 17-21. Futures contracts were even harsher on the rouble. The dollar being quoted at a spread of 24-31 roubles for settlement on Tuesday and up to 50 rubles for Wednesday settlement on the Micex electronic system.

The rouble has sunk like a stone since it was unhooked from a 6.2 to-the-dollar peg on August 17. Micex trading was suspended for a week as the central bank admitted it nolonger had the hard currency reserves to defend the rouble.

The resumption of trading last Thursday saw a renewed slump of the Russian currency, accelerated on Friday by comments from acting premier Viktor Chernomyrdin who detailed plans to print money to pay wage and pension areas