Crown slightly stronger to euro, dollar in Christmas trade

To the US dollar, the unit slightly corrected previous losses and firmed to Kc24.44.

There were no news on the market today. The governing board of the Czech central bank CNB met for a regular monthly meeting on interest rates today but analysts agree that the CNB will leave the rates unchanged at the current 2 percent.

"Neither the comment after the meeting should bring surprises," Tomas Vlk from Patria has said.

Economists expect the central bank to put up the key repo rate to 2.5 percent in two moves only next year.

The CNB may have to revise its exaggerated inflation forecast in January and the rate hike is not as urgent now as it was several moths ago, they said.

Next Finance analyst Marketa Sichtarova said that the crown should trade within the band of Kc28.85 and Kc29.15 per euro for the rest of the year.

The currency has so far avoided the risk that a single speculation could set the crown's rate in motion owing to a smaller number of players on the market.