MOSCOW, March 5 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble soared to a near one-month high against the dollar on Tuesday, boosted by state foreign currency sales, while shares in leading lender Sberbank surged to a more than two-year high.

By 1630 GMT, the rouble was 0.8% stronger against the dollar at 90.52, its strongest point since Feb. 9. It had gained 0.5% to trade at 98.65 versus the euro and firmed 0.8% against the yuan to 12.56.

The rouble has now lost the support of month-end tax payments that usually see exporters convert foreign currency revenues to meet local liabilities.

But total tax payments by exporters in March are set to be almost double those of February at 2 trillion roubles ($22.07 billion), said Sber Investments strategist Yury Popov, predicting that the rouble may temporarily strengthen to 87.5-88 to the dollar towards the end of the month.

Net foreign currency sales of around 7 billion roubles a day will continue to support the rouble in the month ahead. The finance ministry's decision to increase purchases slightly is likely to have a limited impact on the rouble, said Dmitry Polevoy of Astra Asset Management.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 0.2% at $82.66 a barrel.

Russian stock indexes were higher.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.9% to 1,147.6 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.1% higher at 3,300.9 points.

Shares in dominant lender Sberbank climbed past the 300 roubles per share mark in early trade to reach their highest since early January 2022.

"We are the only company in Russia that has exceeded its capitalisation level from before the 'special military operation'," Sberbank CEO German Gref said on Tuesday. "Invest, guys, before it's too late."

Alor Broker's Alexei Antonov said the market was expecting a pre-dividend rally from Sberbank shares. The bank expects to pay 50% of last year's record profits in dividends.

For Russian equities guide see

For Russian treasury bonds see ($1 = 90.6350 roubles) (Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Alison Williams)