Russia's central bank said it has no grounds to open a localprobe into possible currency manipulation after U.S. prosecutors expanded aninvestigation to include the ruble.

Trading information used in the U.S. probe “has no relation tothe Russian market,” Sergey Shvetsov, first deputy governor of Bankof Russia, who oversees financial markets, said in aninterview.

U.S. prosecutors have expanded their probe of currency-marketmanipulation by some of the world's largest banks to include theruble and Brazilian real, two people familiar with the matter saidlast month. The Justice Department is using cooperation agreementsit reached with banks in May to gather information and interviewtraders about suspected market rigging, said the people, who askednot to be named because the investigation is confidential.