April 26 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble hovered near a

one-month high of around 92 to the dollar on Friday, ahead of a

rate-setting meeting by the central bank at which it is widely

expected to leave borrowing costs unchanged for the third time

in a row.

At 0653 GMT, the rouble was steady against the dollar at

91.96, earlier hitting 91.8975, its strongest

since March 27.

All 26 analysts polled by Reuters this week expect the Bank

of Russia to keep interest rates unchanged at 16%, with the

gradual slowdown of inflation preventing the central bank from

easing borrowing costs more quickly.

The rouble had lost 0.1% to trade at 98.75 versus the euro

and shed 0.1% against the yuan to 12.67

.

Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's

main export, was up 0.5% at $89.41 a barrel.