Press R to activate the rotate tool .

Use the rotate tool to rotate selected objects by mouse. Select object(s) by means of the normal tool , then switch to the rotate tool , click a selection handle and then drag it in the direction you want.

While the tool is active, the pointer looks like . To return to the normal tool , press Esc or N or click the normal tool .

Quickly moving the reference point

Every click with the rotate tool beyond the selection handles, moves the temporary reference point to the position of the click.

To return to the stored hot-spot reference point, switch to the normal tool , and then back again to the rotate tool .

To reset the reference point to the center, with the rotate tool, on the Tools menu, point to Hot-spot, and then click Reset to center.

Auto-reset of the hot-spot

There is the personal preference related to the rotate tool and the hot-spot position. See Do not reset hot-spot on rotation.

Move the hot-spot (reference point) and save it in the object

See the "To move hot-spot on a selected object" paragraph in the Object's hot-spot topic.