Slovak c.bank forex reserves rise to $14.1 bln

    The Slovak central bank's (NBS) foreign 
currency reserves jumped to 14.096 billion as of Jan. 3, from 
$13.394 billion one week earlier, the bank said on Friday. 
    During the period, the NBS intervened directly in the 
foreign exchange market to weaken the crown from its record high 
of 34.05 per euro .  
    The bank has yet to reveal the size of its hard currency 
purchases but traders and analysts estimate the central bank 
could have spent up to 550 million euros ($720.7 million) in the 
Dec. 28 intervention. 
     
  SLOVAK FOREIGN RESERVES    JAN 3   DEC 31*   DEC 27     DEC 20 
  ($ million) 
  Central Bank            14,095.6  13,363.9 13,393.9   13,401.7 
  Commercial banks         2,668.8   2,424.8  2,837.0    3,067.9 
  Total banking sector    16,764.4  15,788.7 16,230.9   16,469.6 
     
    NOTE: Reserves data are calculated according to methodology 
compatible with European Central Bank standards. 
    * preliminary data 
     (Reporting by Martin Santa in Bratislava) 
 ((Editing by Gerrard Raven; Reuters Messaging: 
peter.laca.reuters.com@reuters.net; +421 5341 8402)) 
 ($1=.7631 Euro) 
  Keywords: SLOVAKIA RESERVES/ 
    

[Reuters/Finance.cz]