MOSCOW, Feb 16 Reuters The Russian rouble weakened on Friday after the federal prisons service said jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny was dead. The central bank39;s decision to hold its key interest rate at 16 also nudged the currency lower.

The rouble dropped to 93 against the dollar in the moments after the Federal Penitentiary Service of the YamaloNenets Autonomous District, where Navalny had been serving his prison sentence, said that Navalny felt unwell after a walk on Friday, and almost immediately lost consciousness.

The rouble had earlier slipped after the central bank left borrowing costs unchanged following five successive rate hikes as inflation pressure persists. Governor Elvira Nabiullina will shed more light on monetary policy and other issues at a news conference at 1200 GMT.

By 1141 GMT, the rouble was 0.6 weaker against the dollar at 92.81 , earlier hitting its lowest level since Jan. 4, bar a momentary drop on Feb. 9 that traders attributed to an algorithmic trading error by a major player.

It had lost 0.3 to trade at 99.64 versus the euro and shed 0.2 against the yuan to 12.76 .

We believe that today39;s decision by the central bank generally coincided with market expectations and therefore will not have a significant impact on the rouble rate, said Mikhail Vasilyev, chief analyst at Sovcombank.

All 23 analysts polled by Reuters this week had predicted the rate hold.

The rouble has lost some support this month as the state slightly…