Slovak crown touches record high of 35.980 vs euro

    BRATISLAVA, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The Slovak crown firmed on 
Tuesday, briefly touching a record high of 35.980 against the 
euro, and dealers said more gains were on the cards in the near 
term if foreign players keep favouring emerging risk. 
    At 0940 GMT, the crown traded at 36.025 per euro <EURSKK=>, 
compared with 36.050 late on Monday. 
    "The crown firmed to its strongest level ever of 35.980 per 
euro after a London-based bank started buying crowns and some 
local banks followed suit," said Tatra Banka dealer Boris 
Somorovsky. 
    "It seems that foreign banks are still very interested in 
the crown despite its levels," he said. 
    The crown has been gaining ground rapidly since 
end-September, fuelled by a bullish regional mood, hopes that 
Slovakia will adopt the euro in 2009 and expectations for a 
narrowing of the current account gap. 
    The unit is 6.85 percent above the central parity within the 
Exchange Rate Mechanism 2 (ERM 2), which Slovakia joined in 
November 2005 to prepare for euro zone entry. 
----------------MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0940 GMT------------------- 
Crown/Euro <EURSKK=> 36.025 vs 36.050 on Monday (+0.08 pct) 
Crown/Dollar <SKK=>  28.045 vs 28.145 (+0.36 pct) 
5-yr govt bond <SK5YT=RR> yield unchanged at 4.450/250 pct 
8-yr govt bond <SK8YT=RR> yield 4.333/173 vs 4.250/099 pct 
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  ((Reporting by Martin Santa, editing by Gerrard Raven; Reuters 
Messaging: martin.santa.reuters.com@reuters.net; +421 5341 
8402)) 
  Keywords: MARKETS SLOVAKIA CROWN MIDDAY