The Russian rouble slightly strengthened against the U.S. dollar on Thursday.

By 0717 GMT, the rouble was 0.14% higher at 88.64 to the dollar after trading in a range of 88.485 to 88.818.

Against the euro, the rouble rose 0.1% to 96.43 and gained 0.15% to 12.20 against the yuan .

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, rose 0.7% to $78.92 a barrel.

Russian stock indexes fell. The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.39% to 1,135.95. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index lost 0.49% to 3,196.46.

($1 = 88.6425 roubles) (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)