Slovak crown down as regional turbulence worsens

    BRATISLAVA, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The Slovak crown <EURSKK=> 
extended its fall against the euro on Friday morning due to 
political turmoil in central Europe, and dealers said more 
losses were likely if the turbulence continued to escalate. 
    The crown traded at 37.620 to the euro as of 0735 GMT, down 
from 37.510 late on Thursday. 
    Banks have dumped central European currencies this week 
because of street riots in Budapest, which started on Sunday, 
and the collapse of the Polish ruling coalition on Thursday. 
    "Investors are likely to close more long positions in local 
currencies," said VUB bank dealer Laco Benedek. 
    The crown is down 0.6 percent this week due to the turmoil. 
    ING Bank said in a market note that risks of the Polish 
zloty testing a psychological level of 4.00 per euro could keep 
the crown in a weaker range of 37.500-37.750. 
    Domestic direction for the crown could come from the central 
bank's interest rate meeting on Tuesday. 
    The market widely expects the bank to keep the key two-week 
repo rate unchanged in September, but analysts predict the 
bank's rhetoric on inflation risks will confirm expectations of 
monetary policy tightening in October. 
----------------MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0735 GMT------------------- 
Crown/Euro <EURSKK=> 37.620 vs 37.510 (-0.29 pct) on Thursday 
Crown/Dollar <SKK=>  29.324 vs 29.477 (+0.52 pct) 
5-yr govt bond <SK5YT=RR> yield 5.158/4.858 vs 5.117/4.818 
9-yr govt bond <SK9YT=RR> yield 4.991/4.791 vs 4.981/4.781 
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 ((Reporting by Martin Santa, editing by Gill Tudor; 
peter.laca@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: 
peter.laca.reuters.com@reuters.net; +421-2 5341 8402)) 
  Keywords: MARKETS SLOVAKIA CROWN OPEN