Slovak crown slides on region, eyes rate decision

...later 
in the session. 
    The crown stood at 34.035 per euro  as of 0730 GMT, 
compared with 33.960 late on Monday. 
    "There is still negative sentiment on the market," one 
foreign trader said. "The entire emerging markets don't look 
good." 
    The National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) holds its monthly 
monetary policy meeting on Tuesday, and it is expected to 
announce the rate decision between 0915 and 1100 GMT. 
    "Since expectations are almost unanimous for an 'on hold' 
decision, only a surprise would affect the markets," Slovenska 
Sporitelna wrote in a market comment. 
    The NBS cut the main two-week repo rate by 25 basis points 
in March and April after a rising crown tightened monetary 
conditions and helped to improve the inflation outlook. 
    But analysts saw no change in Slovak rates in May because 
the European Central Bank is expected to raise its rates and the 
NBS wants to even out local borrowing costs with the euro zone 
level as part of the plan to adopt the euro in 2009. 
    Recent Slovak crown easing, caused by jitters on emerging 
markets, has added another reason for keeping Slovak rates on 
hold, traders said. 
----------------MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0730 GMT------------------- 
Crown/Euro  34.035 vs 33.960 on Monday (-0.22 pct) 
Crown/Dollar  25.312 vs 25.227 (-0.34 pct) 
5-yr govt bond  yield 4.447/4.297 vs 4.342/4.193 pct 
7-yr govt bond  yield 4.499/4.349 pct vs 4.447/4.297 
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[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]