Slovak crown near 2-week lows, seen weaker

...outflow of 
dividends to foreign owners of local firms. 
    The crown stood at 33.740 to the euro  as of 0830 
GMT, compared with 33.735 at Thursday's close and in sight of 
two-week lows of 33.760 hit earlier in the previous session. 
    "This time the upside (weakening) pressure seems to be 
stronger, fuelled by soft sentiment in the region and dividends 
repatriation," said 4castweb analyst Piotr Matys. 
    The crown traditionally comes under pressure in April and 
May as Slovak companies pay dividends to their foreign 
investors. 
    The local unit is also under the influence of bigger markets 
in central Europe. The prospect of interest rate hikes in the 
Czech Republic is now pushing regional currencies down. 
    "Investors using the Czech crown as the financing currency 
have begun to reduce positions in the Slovak crown, Polish zloty 
and Hungarian forint," CSOB bank said in a market comment. 
----------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0800 GMT ----------------- 
Crown/euro  33.740 vs 33.735 on Thursday (-0.01 pct) 
Crown/dollar  at 24.995 vs 24.990 (-0.02) 
5-yr govt bond  yield 4.247/4.097 
7-yr govt bond  yield 4.476/4.277 
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[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]