MOSCOW -- The rouble hovered near 75 against a rising U.S. dollar on Friday, not far from its strongest mark since early January, showing limited reaction to Russia's central bank hiking interest rates and with tensions over Ukraine staying firmly in focus.

By 1123 GMT, the rouble was unchanged against the dollar at 75.02, close to its strongest point since Jan. 3 of 74.2550 hit in the previous session.

The dollar firmed globally after hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation and hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve official unleashed a wave of bets on aggressive rate hikes.

The rouble had gained 0.5 per cent to trade at 85.52 against the euro.

The Bank of Russia, grappling with accelerating inflation, raised its key rate on Friday to 9.5 per cent, as expected by analysts polled by Reuters.

Governor Elvira Nabiullina could shed light on when the bank may resume foreign exchange purchases on the domestic market after halting them on Jan. 24, during an online news conference at 1200 GMT.

The 100-basis-point hike was fully priced in and unlikely to impact Russian markets, CentroCreditBank Economist Evgeny Suvorov, said before the decision. He said the bank's forecast figures could have a meaningful impact on market expectations.

The Bank of Russia revised its year-end inflation forecast to 5.0-6.0 per cent, giving up on its earlier hopes that it would slow to 4.0-4.5 per cent.

Russian assets remain sensitive to tensions over Ukraine, and while the rouble has recovered most of the losses sustained this month, shares have come under renewed pressure.

Britain said on Thursday the "most dangerous moment" in the West's standoff with Moscow appeared imminent, as Russia held military exercises in Belarus and the Black Sea following the buildup of its forces near Ukraine.

"Shuttle diplomacy by the West and Russia has thus far brought more hard liner rhetoric than olive branches, prompting an uptick in saber rattling," BCS Global Markets said in a note.

Russia's dollar-denominated RTS share index was down 4.2 per cent at 1,481.6 points, while the rouble-based MOEX index was 3.5 per cent lower at 3,529.0 points.

Shares in oil major Rosneft lost 3.6 per cent, in line with the market, after reporting record net income for 2021 that still missed forecast.

"Buyers are no longer so sure of themselves: the geopolitical element is factored into prices and no new reasons to buy have appeared," said Alfa Capital.

(Reporting by Alexander Marrow and Andrey Ostroukh; editing by David Evans and Tomasz Janowski)