Alt does something related but pretty different. Sure it cycles between (object) selections but: - it does not move any object when activated (and this would be an important feedback about what you're going to grab); - it does not take into account nodes, handles or other types of selectable objects, the more relevant of which are guides.
I'd find the proposed grabbing key much useful also to be able to select the node I want between overlapping ones, a thing I've not found an effective workaround for so far (now I snap a guide on the nodes, start moving them until I find the one I need, then snap back all the others in place and remove the guide; fortunately this frequently involves only two nodes and I've become pretty fast in doing this automatically so it's simpler than it seems).
Another feature that came to mind while writing: when activated, the circle indicating the area where all selectable objects are considered (starting with the default radius, expressed in screen pixels so it does not depend on zoom level) could be displayed and using the mouse wheel it could be increased or decreased (without changing the default stored value), refreshing the cycling list when it's changed. This would be an important and powerful visual feedback about what's going on.
Luca
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