Slovak crown down on emerging market sell-off

    The Slovak crown weakened on 
Friday due to a correction on emerging markets as investors 
awaited U.S non-farm payroll data, dealers said. 
    The Slovak unit traded at 34.625 to the euro  as of 
0915 GMT, after 34.525 late on Thursday. 
    "(Weakening) pressure on the crown continues, but the crown 
is outperforming its regional peers, reflecting limited short 
euro positioning and a new found willingness to buy the crown," 
The Royal Bank of Scotland wrote in a market note. 
    The crown was the best performing currency in central Europe 
in 2006, but its rise came to a halt last week when the central 
bank intervened on the market after it reached a record high of 
34.05 per euro. 
    The market will be watching the U.S. non-farm payroll 
report, due out later on Friday as the most closely watched 
barometer of the U.S. labour market is expected to determine the 
dollar's near term direction. 
    "The next important point (for the crown) will be 34.8 per 
euro, and whether we will witness a move on it or not will 
strongly depend on US non-farm payroll data and the subsequent 
positioning of investors out, or into the dollar," ING bank said 
in a report to clients. 
----------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0900 GMT ----------------- 
 Crown/euro  34.625 vs 34.525 on Thursday (-0.30 pct) 
 Crown/dollar   26.440 vs 26.355 (-x.34 pct) 
5-yr govt bond  yield 4.279/3.878 vs 4.299/4.101 
7-yr govt bond  yield 4.200/4.049 vs 4.206/4.005 
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[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]