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MOSCOW, Feb 10 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble firmed on Friday, recovering from a more than nine-month low hit in early trade, ahead of a central bank meeting that is expected to keep interest rates on hold but signal potential future monetary policy tightening.
At 0725 GMT the rouble was 0.3% stronger against the dollar at 72.78 . The Russian currency had earlier touched its weakest since April 27 at 73.3900.
Against the euro, it gained 0.7% to 78.09 and also firmed by 0.7% against the yuan to 10.70 , recovering from multi-month lows against both currencies.
The Bank of Russia is widely expected to hold its main interest rate at 7.5% but to express a more hawkish view, signalling that future rate increases are on the cards because inflation remains well above Russia's official 4% target. The bank will also update some economic forecasts and could lower its assessment of the average Urals oil price for 2023 in light of embargoes on Russian crude and oil products, imposed by Western countries over Russia's actions in Ukraine.
VTB analysts said they expect the lower export price of Russian oil and higher than expected fourth-quarter imports to prompt a downward revision of the bank's forecast for Russia's current account surplus.
Reduced export volumes shrank Russia's current account surplus by 58.2% to $8 billion in January, squeezing Russia's capital buffers at a time when Moscow is ramping up budget spending and energy revenue is slumping.
The central bank will announce its rate decision at 1030 GMT and Governor Elvira Nabiullina will shed more light on monetary policy and other issues at a media conference at 1200 GMT. Brent crude oil , a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 0.1% at $84.5 a barrel. Russian stock indexes were down, with the dollar-denominated RTS index easing by 0.2% to 975.7 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.4% down at 2,252.7 points. For Russian equities guide see For Russian treasury bonds see (Reporting by Alexander Marrow Editing by David Goodman)
