By Gergely Szakacs
BUDAPEST, Nov 21 (Reuters) - The Hungarian forint
eased on Thursday, giving back some of the gains posted in a
short-lived bounce following the central bank's decision earlier
this week to keep interest rates on hold.
Central Europe's worst-performing currency, which has lost
nearly 4% of its value versus the euro this year, firmed nearly
1% from around record lows at the 336 mark after Tuesday's
central bank meeting.
But the currency, pressured by weak global sentiment as
Britain's uncertain departure from the European Union and
back-and-forth in the U.S.-China trade dispute rattle investors,
has been drifting to weaker levels since.
At 1017 GMT, it was 0.2% weaker than Wednesday's local
close, underperforming its central European peers, which were
mildly stronger or unchanged.
"I would expect the forint to remain on a weaker footing,"
said a currency dealer in Budapest. "It has been in a weakening
channel since the start of the year. Now it sits bang in the
middle of that channel.
"Tuesday's move was the correction of the previous rapid
weakening to 335 per euro from the 328 level," the trader said.
In contrast, the Czech crown led the region with a
0.2% gain, testing the strong side of the psychological 25.50
level in low turnover.
"The crown is stuck to the level of 25.50 and is cautiously
trying to test this stronger technical level," economists at
CSOB said in a note.
"Given growing global tensions it will be difficult. Help
could come with euro zone PMI at the end of the week, assuming
it confirms light improvement."
Major regional stock markets were in the red, with Warsaw
stocks shedding 0.8% and the Budapest Stock Exchange also
retreating from a record-high hit earlier this week.
Later on Thursday Romania will auction 1-year bills and 2031
government bonds, which analysts at ING said would attract good
demand.
"The target amounts are small and should be filled without
major yield concessions," ING said.
CEE SNAPSHO AT
MARKETS T 1117
CET
CURRENC
IES
Latest Previou Daily Change
s
bid close change in 2019
EURCZK Czech <EURCZK 25.5000 25.5400 +0.16% +0.81%
= crown =>
EURHUF Hungary <EURHUF 333.750 333.110 -0.19% -3.79%
= forint => 0 0
EURPLN Polish <EURPLN 4.2950 4.2950 +0.00% -0.13%
= zloty =>
EURRON Romanian <EURRON 4.7810 4.7835 +0.05% -2.66%
= leu =>
EURHRK Croatian <EURHRK 7.4370 7.4405 +0.05% -0.36%
= kuna =>
EURRSD Serbian <EURRSD 117.450 117.620 +0.14% +0.72%
= dinar => 0 0
Note: calculated from 1800
daily CET
change
Latest Previou Daily Change
s
close change in 2019
.PX Prague 1072.44 1078.34 -0.55% +8.70%
00
.BUX Budapest 43602.4 43938.9 -0.77% +11.40
5 0 %
.WIG20 Warsaw <.WIG20 2177.36 2194.58 -0.78% -4.36%
>
.BETI Buchares 9713.99 9732.22 -0.19% +31.56
t %
.SBITO Ljubljan <.SBITO 888.71 884.14 +0.52% +10.50
P a P> %
.CRBEX Zagreb <.CRBEX 1993.38 1994.61 -0.06% +13.98
> %
.BELEX Belgrade <.BELEX 764.66 764.08 +0.08% +0.39%
15 15>
.SOFIX Sofia <.SOFIX 551.00 550.98 +0.00% -7.31%
>
BONDS
Yield Yield Spread Daily
(bid) change vs Bund change
in
Czech spread
Republic
CZ2YT= 2-year <CZ2YT= 1.3820 -0.0160 +202bp -2bps
RR RR> s
CZ5YT= 5-year <CZ5YT= 1.2700 0.0460 +186bp +3bps
RR RR> s
CZ10YT <CZ10YT 1.4940 0.0170 +183bp +0bps
=RR 10-year =RR> s
Poland
PL2YT= 2-year <PL2YT= 1.3930 -0.0070 +203bp -2bps
RR RR> s
PL5YT= 5-year <PL5YT= 1.8280 0.0220 +242bp +1bps
RR RR> s
PL10YT <PL10YT 2.0830 0.0280 +242bp +1bps
=RR 10-year =RR> s
FORWARD RATE AGREEME
NT
3x6 6x9 9x12 3M
interba
nk
Czech <CZKFRA 2.26 2.25 2.20 2.18
Rep ><PRIBO
R=>
Hungary <HUFFRA 0.23 0.28 0.31 0.19
><BUBOR
=>
Poland <PLNFRA 1.73 1.71 1.68 1.71
><WIBOR
=>
Note: are for ask
FRA prices
quotes
(Additional reporting by Jason Hovet in PRAGUE and Radu-Sorin
Marinas in BUCHAREST
Editing by Gareth Jones)
