Slovak crown firms on Samsung news, seen in range

...foreign investment inflows, dealers said. 
    The crown eased as far as 34.150 per euro early in the 
session, staying weak as the central bank (NBS) rejected some 
bids in its regular liquidity-draining tender. It did not react 
to February inflation data, which were in line with forecasts. 
    At 1530 GMT, the crown traded at 34.0 per euro , 
compared with 34.025 per euro late on Monday, in sight of a 
record peak of 33.800 booked on March 8. 
    Peter Hajas, head of the government investment agency SARIO, 
told Reuters that South Korea's Samsung Electronics  
will invest 320 million euros in its new LCD panel factory in 
Slovakia by 2011. 
    He also said Samsung's main suppliers will spend another 250 
million euros in the EU member country. Samsung said last week 
it would initially invest 147.4 billion won ($141.6 million) and 
start construction by the end of the first half of this year. 
    Traders said it was hard to predict whether players would 
try again to push the crown to stronger levels, saying 
rangebound trading was probably on the cards. 
    "The crown would float between 33.900 and 34.300 per euro 
(in the near term)," said Tatra Banka dealer Boris Somorovsky. 
"It's hard to say whether investors would test the central 
bank's patience at 33.800 per euro or will wait." 
    The NBS intervened directly in the market on March 8 to curb 
the crown's strength, saying the unit's rise was too fast. 
    Inflation remained benign in February, boosting possibility 
of a sooner-than-expected rate cut, analysts said. 
    The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also said on Tuesday, 
Slovakia is very likely to meet euro entry criteria in time, and 
adopt the single currency as planned in 2009. The crown showed 
no reaction to the IMF remarks. 
------------------ MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 1530 GMT ----------------- 
Crown/euro  at 34.000 vs 34.025 on Monday (+0.07 pct) 
Crown/dollar  at 25.766 vs 25.780 (+0.05 pct) 
5-yr govt bond  yield 4.241/4.020 vs 4.200/3.994 pct 
7-yr govt bond  yield 4.272/4.050 vs 4.275/4.110 pct 
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