MOSCOW—Russia’s battered ruble recovered some of its recent losses against the dollar on Wednesday as the market welcomed measures by the Bank of Russia to shore up the country’s banks, and the Finance Ministry said it would start selling its excess foreign currency holdings.

In a volatile day of trading, the currency gained more than 10% on the Moscow Exchange after the central bank announced a raft of measures to ease banking regulations and aimed at convincing Russians to keep their money in the national currency. The ruble...