Slovak crown eases on profit taking, seen firmer

    BRATISLAVA, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The Slovak crown lost 0.4 
percent against the euro on Thursday as foreign investors booked 
profits after the unit's one-month rally to all-time highs, 
dealers said. 
    The crown firmed to near last week's record peak of 36.250 
per euro in early trade, but later weakened in line with 
neighbouring currencies. It traded at 36.420 per euro <EURSKK=> 
as of 1630 GMT, compared with Tuesday's close of 36.270. 
    Traders expect the crown to return to stronger levels if 
foreign players keep favouring emerging risk, saying volatility 
will remain low. 
    "I still expect the crown to hover near its stronger levels 
in the near term," said Tatra Banka dealer Milan Cavojec. 
    The crown showed no reaction to the central bank's Tuesday 
decision to keep its key two-week repo rate unchanged at 4.75 
percent despite expectations for a 25 basis-point hike, dealers 
said. The market was closed for a national holiday on Wednesday. 
    The unit also ignored news that the finance ministry upped 
its 2006 public finance deficit forecast to 2.5 percent of gross 
domestic product from a previous estimate of 2.2 percent as it 
is still below the euro adoption threshold of 3.0 percent. 
----------------MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 1630 GMT------------------- 
Crown/Euro <EURSKK=> 36.410 vs 36.270 on Tuesday (-0.39 pct) 
Crown/Dollar <SKK=>  28.502 vs 28.418 (-0.33 pct) 
5-yr govt bond <SK5YT=RR> yield unchanged at 4.644/445 pct 
8-yr govt bond <SK8YT=RR> yield 4.439/239 vs 4.515/4.319 
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 ((Reporting by Martin Santa, editing by Mike Peacock; Reuters 
Messaging: martin.santa.reuters.com@reuters.net; +421 5341 
8402)) 
  Keywords: MARKETS SLOVAKIA CROWN CLOSE