Slovakia - Factors To Watch on Oct 24

    BRATISLAVA, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press 
reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial 
markets on Tuesday. 
     
    C.BANK REPO TENDER 
    The central bank will hold its regular two-week repo tender. 
     
    REGULAR PARLIAMENT SESSION 
    Parliament resumes proceedings in a regular session. 
     
    MATADOR, CONTINENTAL IN ALLIANCE TALKS 
    Slovakia's tyre and car parts maker Matador <MATDb.BV> is 
negotiating a possible alliance with Germany's Continental 
<CONG.DE>, a company spokesman Dusan Koblisek said on Monday. 
    [ID:nL23865638] [RTRS-MRG-MAC-AUT] 
     
    SLOVAKIA MAY SELL STAKE IN FIXED-LINE PHONE FIRM 
    Slovakia may eventually sell its minority stake in 
fixed-line operator Slovak Telekom (ST), Transport and Telecoms 
Minister Lubomir Vazny said on Monday. 
    [ID:nL23860524] [RTRS-MRG-TEL] 
     
    SLOVAKIA LEVIES RECORD FINE ON BUILDING FIRMS-PAPER 
    The Slovak competition body has imposed a record fine of 
1.36 billion crowns ($46.91 million) on seven construction 
companies for colluding on bids in a highway tender, Slovak 
media reported on Monday. 
    [ID:nL23499176] [RTRS-EMRG-CON] 
     
    CROWN FLAT, MORE BULLISH TREND SEEN LIKELY 
    The Slovak crown <EURSKK=> traded near its record highs on 
Monday after some investors took profits from the recent rally, 
and dealers said they saw room for more gains in the coming 
days. 
    [ID:nL23863396] [RTRS-MMT-FRX] 
     
    PRESS DIGEST 
    ------------ 
    GOVT PARTY STICKS TO TAX DEMAND 
    A junior ruling coalition party, HZDS, is sticking to its 
demand that companies are allowed to grant 2 percent of their 
taxes to non-government organisations, the daily Hospodarske 
Noviny reports. The finance ministry, which has proposed to cut 
the grant amount to 0.5 percent, said the 2007 budget would not 
be in danger because of the HZDS demand. 
    Hospodarke Noviny, page 1 
     
    SLOVAK-HUNGARIAN RELATIONS COLDER 
    Slovaks say relations between Slovakia and Hungary have 
worsened in the past few months, the daily Sme quoted an opinion 
poll conducted by the private polling agency MVK.  
    Sme, page 1 
     
    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: Peter Laca on +421 2 5341 8402; fax: 
+421 2 5341 8403 
    E-mail: reuters@editorial.sk 
    Reuters Messaging: peter.laca.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))