Slovak crown hits 5-wk highs, in volatile day

...Wednesday, with traders predicting room for 
gains in the near term. 
    The Slovak unit rose as far as 33.600 per euro  on 
Wednesday, its strongest level since May 16, but bounced back to 
33.720 as of 1450 GMT. It was quoted at 33.715 late on Tuesday. 
    "There was a short-squeeze on the Polish zloty, which 
dragged the crown back (from intraday highs)," one dealer with a 
foreign bank in Bratislava said. 
    "The region continues tracking the U.S. bond market, but 
nothing has changed for the crown and there is no reason for it 
to weaken. The trend is to firm again," he added. 
    Wednesday's upward revision of finance ministry's GDP growth 
forecasts for 2007 and 2008, to 8.8 and 6.8 percent growth, 
respectively, has added to favourable economic fundamentals that 
should boost the crown over longer-term, analysts said. 
    Local bond prices rose on Wednesday after the head of the 
finance ministry's Debt and Liquidity Management Agency, Daniel 
Bytcanek, told Reuters the government was unlikely to sell many 
more bonds in the rest of the year. 
----------------MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 1450 GMT------------------- 
Crown/Euro  33.720 vs 33.715 on Tuesday (-0.02 pct) 
Crown/Dollar  25.125 vs 25.165 (+0.16 pct)  
5-yr govt bond  yield 4.510/4.210 vs 4.680/4.501 pct 
7-yr govt bond  yield 4.749/4.549 vs 4.793/4.650 pct 
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