MOSCOW, Oct 10 (Reuters) – The Russian rouble has weakened slightly against the U.S. dollar and China's yuan on Friday, reacting to the central bank's hints that the key rate could still come down this year despite inflationary tax hikes in the new draft budget. The central bank's governor, Elvira Nabiullina, said on October 9 that there was still room for the key rate cut from the current level of 17% and that the decisions were not predetermined. Last month, the central bank cut the key rate by 1 percentage point, which was smaller than anticipated. Many analysts expect it to pause additional cuts this year to mitigate an early-2026 inflation jump tied to the VAT hike. Such expectations supported the rouble in recent weeks as high interest rates make holding rouble-denominated assets more attractive. The prospects of more cuts have reversed this trend, analysts said. "The head of the central bank sees room to cut rates in the future — that's bearish for the national currency," analysts at brokerage BCS said. By 1000 GMT, the rouble weakened by 0.1% to 81.25 to the dollar, according to over-the-counter trade data from LSEG. It weakened by 0.3% to 11.35 against the yuan at the Moscow Stock Exchange, where the yuan is the most traded foreign currency. Analysts noted that Russia's stock market index fell by 4% on October 8 after a statement by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov that the impetus from the Alaska summit between Russia and the U.S. to find a peace deal for Ukraine had proven to be largely exhausted. Ryabkov played down the significance of his statements for markets, saying on October 9 that "geopolitical risks are no greater now than before, they're on a plateau." There was no significant reaction from the rouble to the deputy foreign minister's comments. "Yesterday the geopolitical factor weakened," BCS analysts said in reference to Ryabkov's latest comments. "And that's a positive factor for the rouble." (Reporting by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Maju Samuel)
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