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(Updates prices, adds analyst comment)
By Alexander Marrow
MOSCOW, Feb 10 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble fell to a
more than nine-month low past 73 against the dollar on Friday as
the central bank kept interest rates on hold, but signalled
potential future hikes, and Moscow ordered a huge oil output cut
that sparked a rise in oil prices.
By 1504 GMT, the rouble was 0.4% weaker against the dollar at 73.28 . The currency had earlier touched its weakest since April 27 at 73.3900.
Against the euro, it gained 0.4% to 78.35 and also firmed by 0.2% against the yuan to 10.75 , recovering from multi-month lows against both currencies.
Russia's central bank held its key interest rate at 7.5%, but suggested it may have to hike rates at upcoming meetings as a widening budget deficit, labour shortages and a weaker rouble pose inflationary risks. Raiffeisen Bank analyst Grigory Chepkov said the signal on future rate hikes was probably already factored into the rouble's price because the bank had previously expressed concerns about inflationary risks. The central bank also slashed its forecast for 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.
The lower export price of Russian oil and higher than expected fourth-quarter imports also prompted a downward revision of the bank's forecast for Russia's 2023 current account surplus, to $66 billion from $123 billion.
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.
Brent crude oil , a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 1.4% at $85.7 a barrel, rising on news that Russia will cut oil production by 500,000 barrels per day, or around 5% of output , in March. Russian stock indexes were down, with the dollar-denominated RTS index easing by 0.7% to 971.2 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.1% lower at 2,259.7 points. (Reporting by Alexander Marrow Editing by David Goodman and Mark Potter)
