Czech crown near 2-week highs, upside seen limited

...showed some signs of stability after a week-long slide.

The crown inched as high as 28.110 before pulling back to trade barely changed on the session at 28.145 per euro by 0955 GMT.

"The crown is firming due to closing of positions funded out of the currency, but I would say most has been done and the crown faces strong euro support at 28.050 and 28.000," said Miroslav Tutter, senior currency dealer at CSOB Bank.

A rebound in the dollar against the yen helped on Tuesday stem the unwinding of carry trades -- speculative positions that depend on low Japanese interest rates that made it profitable to sell yen for higher-yielding assets elsewhere.

Over the past weeks and months, many players had also taken advantage of low Czech rates -- at 2.50 percent the lowest in the European Union -- to sell the crown to invest in other currencies and assets, mostly in other emerging markets.

Apart from watching global currency markets for direction, investors were gearing up for Wednesday's release of January foreign trade data , expected to show a 14 billion crown monthly surplus, according to a Reuters poll of analysts.

Some analysts said the crown might extend its gains if the data show robust exports and the surplus beats expectations.

----------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0955 GMT ----------------- Crown/euro last deals at 28.145 (-0.04 pct) Crown/dollar at 21.442 bid (+0.11 pct)

5-year yield due Oct 2010 3.26 pct bid (+2 bps) 10-year yield due Jan 2016 3.73 pct bid (+2 bps)

5-yr CZK/EUR mid yield spread -63 bps (vs -63) 10-yr CZK/EUR mid yield spread -19 bps (vs -21)

Current levels versus prior domestic close at 1500 GMT ---------------------------------------------------------------