The Russian rouble firmed slightly ahead of the central bank's final monetary policy meeting of the year on Friday at which it is widely expected to raise interest rates by 100 basis points to 16%.

Inflation pressure exacerbated by labour shortages and lending growth is expected to force the Bank of Russia to extend its monetary tightening cycle to one last hike.

At 0716 GMT, the rouble was 0.3% stronger against the dollar at 89.60, not far from a near two-week high hit in the previous session.

It had gained 0.3% to trade at 98.47 versus the euro and firmed 0.5% against the yuan to 12.59 .

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 news conference at 1200 GMT.

"We do not rule out that today's hike may be the last in the current cycle and the regulator will start lowering the rate in the spring," said Alor Broker's Alexei Antonov. "Perhaps some hints on this will be voiced today."

Exporters' forced conversion of some foreign currency revenues has been supporting the rouble since October, which has strengthened from beyond the 100 mark to the dollar since then.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.2% at $76.84 a barrel.

Russian stock indexes were lower.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 1.3% to 1,041.4 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 1.6% lower at 2,962.1 points. (Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Angus MacSwan)