Slovak crown hits record high vs euro, ignores data

    BRATISLAVA, Nov 8 (Reuters) - The Slovak crown retreated on 
Wednesday from a record high against the euro hit in early trade 
as investors booked profits, but dealers said more gains were 
possible. 
    The crown has outperformed its peers this year, gaining 4.8 
percent to the euro on hopes that Slovakia will adopt the single 
currency in 2009 as planned. It was also boosted by expectations 
for a narrowing of the country's current account gap. 
    "This is the time that investors can be more reassured the 
currency appreciation and nominal exchange rate convergence will 
happen," said Barbara Nestor, emerging markets strategist at 
Commerzbank in London. 
    "Slovak interest rates are quite attractive and there is 
less structural risk on the exchange rate. It's a good carry 
currency," she said. 
    At 1520 GMT, the crown was quoted at 36.110 per euro bid 
<EURSKK=>, compared with an all-time high of 36.001. It closed 
at 36.130 on Tuesday. 
    The unit did not immediately react to the release of 
September industrial output data, which showed showed a 
bigger-than-expected slowdown in growth to 9.7 percent 
year-on-year. 
----------------MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 1520 GMT------------------- 
Crown/Euro <EURSKK=> 36.110 vs 36.130 on Tuesday (+0.03 pct) 
Crown/Dollar <SKK=>  28.267 vs 28.238 (-0.24 pct) 
5-yr govt bond <SK5YT=RR> yield 4.401/199 at 4.400/201 pct 
8-yr govt bond <SK8YT=RR> yield 4.250/180 vs 4.429/4.229 
-------------------------------------------------------------- 
   (Additional reporting by Sujata Rao in London) 
 ((Reporting by Martin Santa, editing by Mike Peacock; Reuters 
Messaging: martin.santa.reuters.com@reuters.net; +421 5341 
8402)) 
  Keywords: MARKETS SLOVAKIA CROWN CLOSE