Slovakia - Factors To Watch on Oct 3

    BRATISLAVA, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press 
reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial 
markets on Tuesday. 
     
    C.BANK TO HOLD REGULAR 2-WK REPO TENDER 
    The central bank holds a regular two-week repo tender. 
     
    FICO VISITS ITALY, MEETS PM ROMANO PRODI 
    Slovakia's Prime Minster Robert Fico starts a one-day visit 
to Italy, is scheduled to meet its Italy's counterpart Romano 
Prodi. 
     
    FINMIN KEEPS 2006 CPI FCAST, UPS 2007 
    The Slovak Finance Ministry on Monday said it had kept its 
end-2006 inflation forecast of 4.5 percent, but upped its 2007 
prediction to 3.1 percent from a previous 2.5 percent estimate. 
    [ID:L0278936] [RTRS-MCE-ECI-FCAST] 
     
    REGULATOR CONFIRMS FINE ON SLOVAK TELEKOM 
    The Slovak Anti-Monopoly Office confirmed on Monday an 80 
million crown ($2.71 million) fine against fixed-line operator 
Slovak Telekom for abusing its dominant position in the market. 
    [ID:nL02279435] [RTRS-TEL-EMRG] 
     
    REGULATOR RAISES HEATING PRICE 5-6 PCT 
    The Slovak state regulator (URSO) said on Monday it had 
approved a 5-6 percent increase in heating prices, the local 
news agency SITA reported. 
    [ID:nL0265299] [RTRS-ELG-NGS] 
     
    JAN-AUG BUDGET GAP SHRINKS 
    The Slovak central state budget showed a gap of 5.1 billion 
crowns ($172.9 million) for the first nine months, compared with 
an 8.1 billion deficit for the same period of 2005, the finance 
ministry said on Monday. 
    [ID:nL0296155] [RTRS-GVD-FRX-BDT] 
     
    CROWN MARKS TIME AS IT SEEKS DIRECTION 
    The Slovak crown <EURSKK=> was rangebound against the euro 
on Monday with dealers saying it lacked a near-term impetus, 
leaving it exposed to swings on bigger regional markets. 
    [ID:nL02734918] [RTRS-MMT-GVD-FRX] 
     
    PRESS DIGEST 
    ------------ 
    MINISTRIES' 2007 BUDGET CLAIMS TOP $3.4 BLN 
    Slovak ministers' claims, eyed from the 2007 state budget, 
reached 100 billion crowns ($3.40 billion), although the finance 
ministry said only three billion crown were available to cover 
the ministries' demands, Sme reports. 
    Sme, page 1 
     
    STATE INVESTMENT AGENCY HEAD LOOSE CHAIR 
    The Economy Ministry has sacked the head of the state's 
investment agency SARIO, Milan Jurasek, daily Sme reports. 
    Sme, page 6 
     
    URSO ABORTS ELECTIRCITY PRICES HIKE DECISION 
    The State Regulator (URSO) aborted its decision making on 
the hike in the electricity prices for households, requested by 
country's three distribution companies, due insufficient 
information about the input parameters, daily Sme reports. 
    Sme, page 6 
     
    For an economic indicator diary for the euro zone, the ed 
States and other Group of Seven countries, see <G7TODAY>. For a 
diary of forthcoming Slovak events, double click [SK/DIARY], and 
for a calendar of east European economic indicators, see 
[CONV/DIARY]. 
     
    News editor of the day: Alan Crosby on +421 2 5341 8402; 
fax: +421 2 5341 8403 
    E-mail: reuters@editorial.sk 
    Reuters Messaging: martin.santa.reuters.com@reuters.net 
     
 For real-time index quotes, double click in brackets: 
 Warsaw WIG20 <.WIG20>  Budapest BUX <.BUX>  Prague PX50 <.PX50> 
 Other related news: 
 Slovak equities      [SK-E]  E.Europe equities           [.CEE] 
 Slovak money         [SK-M]  Czech debt                  [CZ-D] 
 Slovak Indicators  [SK-ECI]  Emerging forex          [EMRG/FRX] 
 Eastern European     [EEU]   All emerging markets        [EMRG] 
 Hot stocks           [HOT]   Stock markets                [STX] 
 Market debt news     [DBT]   Forex news                   [FRX] 
 TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets                         [TOP/EMRG] 
 TOP NEWS -- Convergence watch                        [TOP/EAST] 
 ((Bratislava Newsroom; Email: editorial@reuters.sk; 
+421-905-602-847)) 
 ($1=29.40 Slovak Crown)