MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's largest exporters have agreed to limit their foreign currency assets to levels they had on Oct. 1, Vedomosti newspaper reported on Thursday, describing the move as part of measures to stabilise the rouble.

Citing sources, Vedomosti said the companies reached agreement with government and central bank officials on Wednesday to make sure their foreign currency assets were back at the October levels by March 1.

It gave no further details as to how this would support the rouble, which saw its sharpest fall since 1998 earlier this week.

On Wednesday, the rouble moved higher, showing its sharpest rise in 16 years after the government pressured exporters not to hoard foreign-currency earnings and the central bank announced new measures to support financial stability.

In Asian trade on Thursday, the struggling Russian unit was at 61.20 to the US dollar after plunging to 80 earlier in the week. Its started the year at around 30 to the greenback.