* European Parliament launches punitive procedure vs Hungary
* Forint, Hungarian stocks fall
* Czech central bank chief signals further rate hike in Sept
* Czech crown hits strongest level vs euro since May
(Recasts with European Parliament vote against Hungary,
impacts)
By Sandor Peto and Robert Muller
BUDAPEST/PRAGUE, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Hungarian asset prices
declined across the board on Wednesday after the European
Union's parliament voted to start a punitive procedure against
Hungary for flouting democratic rules.
The forint traded near record lows against the
crown which rallied after Czech central bank governor
Jiri Rusnok said interest rates could rise further as early as
this month.
The most severe punishment under the probably lengthy
Article 7 procedure is stripping Hungary of its voting rights in
the EU.
However, that is highly unlikely to happen as Poland,
against which similar proceedings are under way, is likely to
block the decision which would require unanimity.
"Events like tomorrow's Turkish central bank rate decision
and ECB meeting overshadow this," said Gergely Palffy, analyst
of Raiffeisen in Budapest.
"Investors note this, of course ... but I do not think that
one week from now we will be talking about this," he added.
The forint fell half a percent against the euro
after the parliament vote to 326.4. It regained some ground by
1202 GMT, when it was nonetheless 0.4 percent weaker from
Tuesday, trading at 325.9.
The news also dragged down the zloty by about 0.1 percent,
but it also rebounded quickly, to trade almost flat at 4.3095.
The decision knocked Budapest's main stock index from
slight gains into a half percent decline relative to Tuesday's
close, but by 1202 GMT it narrowed its loss to 0.2 percent.
Hungarian government bonds yields rose 2-3 basis points,
with the 10-year paper trading at 3.56 percent.
"I do not think that this (decision) could upset tomorrow's
(bond) auction," one Budapest-based fixed income trader said.
"Yields may rise (by the auction), but they have been in a
rising trend anyway," the trader added.
The Czech crown gave up half of its early gains
against the euro, retreating from a 4-month high.
But trading at 25.595, it was still firmer by a quarter of
percent from Tuesday, buoyed by Rusnok's comments in an
interview to Reuters.
He said strong growth could allow the bank to continue to
increase its interest rates at its Sept. 26 meeting, and another
rise was also possible before the end of the year.
Rusnok also said pressure on the crown "will fade out",
adding, though, that when that would happen remained "a big
unknown".
Prague outperformed all regional equities indices,
rising 0.8 percent, mainly driven by 1.6 percent firming of the
shares of Komercni Banka, one of the biggest Czech
lenders.
Romania's leu eased 0.1 percent to 4.638 against
the euro.
An adviser to the Romanian central bank, Adrian Vasilescu,
was quoted by the business paper Ziarul Financiar as saying that
a rise in annual inflation to 5.1 percent in August, reported on
Tuesday, was not a surprise to the bank.
CEE SNAPSHOT AT
MARKETS 1402 CET
CURRENCI
ES
Latest Previous Daily Change
bid close change in 2018
Czech <EURCZK= 25.5950 25.6600 +0.25% -0.21%
crown >
Hungary <EURHUF= 325.9000 324.6800 -0.37% -4.60%
forint >
Polish <EURPLN= 4.3095 4.3078 -0.04% -3.09%
zloty >
Romanian <EURRON= 4.6380 4.6323 -0.12% +0.90%
leu >
Croatian <EURHRK= 7.4320 7.4218 -0.14% -0.02%
kuna >
Serbian <EURRSD= 118.2600 118.4500 +0.16% +0.20%
dinar >
Note: calculated from 1800 CET
daily
change
Latest Previous Daily Change
close change in 2018
Prague 1090.44 1081.440 +0.83% +1.14%
0
Budapest 36313.77 36371.94 -0.16% -7.78%
Warsaw 2233.32 2248.35 -0.67% -9.26%
Bucharest 8291.07 8282.11 +0.11% +6.93%
Ljubljana <.SBITOP 859.11 861.72 -0.30% +6.54%
>
Zagreb 1809.67 1796.58 +0.73% -1.80%
Belgrade <.BELEX1 723.53 722.43 +0.15% -4.77%
5>
Sofia 629.51 632.02 -0.40% -7.08%
BONDS
Yield Yield Spread Daily
(bid) change vs Bund change
in
Czech spread
Republic
2-year <CZ2YT=R 1.5040 0.0610 +206bps +8bps
R>
5-year <CZ5YT=R 1.8130 0.0090 +201bps +2bps
R>
10-year <CZ10YT= 2.1610 -0.0070 +175bps +1bps
RR>
Poland
2-year <PL2YT=R 1.6440 0.0080 +220bps +2bps
R>
5-year <PL5YT=R 2.5740 -0.0250 +278bps -1bps
R>
10-year <PL10YT= 3.2740 0.0060 +286bps +3bps
RR>
FORWARD RATE AGREEMEN
T
3x6 6x9 9x12 3M
interban
k
Czech Rep 1.92 2.11 2.22 1.53
<PRIBOR=
>
Hungary 0.58 0.80 1.03 0.21
Poland 1.77 1.79 1.84 1.71
Note: FRA are for ask prices
quotes