Slovak crown holds steady vs euro, eyes repo tender

...bank's (NBS) repo tender on Tuesday, 
dealers said. 
    At 0950 GMT, the crown traded at 34.025 per euro , 
little changed from 33.990 late on Friday. The unit jumped to a 
record high of 33.800 on Thursday, triggering intervention by 
the NBS. 
    "The crown will be driven by the region today and will move 
between 33.900 and 34.100 per euro," one Bratislava-based trader 
said. 
    "Everybody waits whether the central bank accepts all bids 
(in the repo tender) or not. That's why the market is barely 
moving right now," he said. 
    The NBS has left the money market awash with excess 
liquidity earlier this year to stem firming pressure on the 
crown. 
    NBS board member Peter Sevcovic told Reuters on Friday that 
the reason for the intervention was excessive volatility and fast 
strengthening of the crown.  
    He also rejected market speculations that the central bank 
may consider a shift in the ERM-2 parity rate to a stronger 
level. 
    "This (the parity shift) is the least preferred scenario for 
the central bank," said Lucia Steklacova, senior analyst at ING 
Bank in Bratislava. "Direct interventions and rate cuts would 
have a priority in case of another fast (crown) move." 
    The crown now trades just 3.5 percent off the stronger-end 
of the plus/minus 15 percent band of the Exchange Rate Mechanism 
2, the euro waiting room, which Slovaks joined in November 2005. 
------------------ MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0950 GMT ----------------- 
Crown/euro  at 34.025 vs 33.990 on Friday (-0.10 pct) 
Crown/dollar  at 25.835 vs 25.890 (+0.21 pct) 
5-yr govt bond  yield 4.328/4.133 pct 
7-yr govt bond  yield 4.280/4.200 pct 
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