Slovak crown near record highs, correction seen

    BRATISLAVA, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The Slovak crown was near its 
record high versus the euro on Thursday, but traders said they 
expected a correction on central European markets after a steady 
rise in the past few days. 
    The unit was at 36.095 to the euro as of 0915 GMT <EURSKK=>, 
compared with the lifetime high of 36.001 hit on Wednesday. It 
closed at 36.110 on Wednesday after some profit taking. 
    The crown has risen in the past month, driven by an upbeat 
mood on emerging markets and a series of positive domestic news. 
    Traders said emerging markets sentiment will be key for the 
Slovak currency in the near future. 
    "We expect the negative correction in central Europe to 
continue," CSOB Bank said in a note to clients. 
    But CSOB analysts said low yields on major markets meant 
that any downturn should not be significant. 
    The crown is also likely to be supported by predictions of 
higher interest rates as the central bank needs to cut inflation 
to prepare the country for a planned euro adoption in 2009. 
    Data from the Statistics Office showed on Thursday that 
retail sales rose by a faster-than-predicted 10.6 percent in 
September, which confirmed strong domestic demand and added to 
expectations of more monetary policy tightening. 
----------------MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0915 GMT------------------- 
Crown/Euro <EURSKK=> 36.095 vs 36.110 on Wednesday (+0.04 pct) 
Crown/Dollar <SKK=>  28.238 vs 28.267 (+0.10 pct) 
5-yr govt bond <SK5YT=RR> yield unchanged at 4.401/199 pct 
8-yr govt bond <SK8YT=RR> yield unchanged at 4.250/4.180 
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 ((Reporting by Martin Santa, writing by Peter Laca, editing by 
Chris Pizzey; Reuters Messaging: 
martin.santa.reuters.com@reuters.net; +421 5341 8402)) 
  Keywords: MARKETS SLOVAKIA CROWN MORNING