Slovak crown at record highs, upside seen open

BRATISLAVA, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The Slovak crown firmed to an record peak to the euro on Wednesday, driven by bullish regional sentiment and prospects of continued central bank monetary tightening to keep inflation in check.

The crown reached as high as 38.20 to the euro before easing back to 36.84 by 1500 GMT and compared to Tuesday's close at 37.00.

The crown is now 4.38 percent above its central parity rate in the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM-2), a euro pre-waiting room, which Slovakia joined late last year.

"36.800 per euro might be a barrier, but the crown is likely to move even lower (firm). It has been never traded around these levels before, it will be influenced by the region," said Tatra Banka dealer Boris Somorovsky.

The crown has been buoyed by London and U.S. based investors pouring capital into their crown holdings, traders said. ----------------MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 1500 GMT------------------- Crown/Euro <EURSKK=> 36.840 vs 37.000 (+0.43 pct) on Tuesday Crown/Dollar <SKK=> 29.354 vs 29.508 (+0.54) 5-yr govt bond <SK5YT=RR> yield 4.600/4.298 vs 4.823/4.522 9-yr govt bond <SK9YT=RR> yield 4.569/4.368 vs 4.400/4.330 -------------------------------------------------------------- ((Reporting by Martin Santa, Editing by ; martin.santa@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: martin.santa.reuters.com@reuters.net; +421-2 5341 8402))

Keywords: MARKETS SLOVAKIA CROWN CLOSE