Slovak crown down on region, seen testing support

    The Slovak crown slid against 
the euro on Wednesday, and traders said sour sentiment on 
emerging markets could push it even weaker to test a support 
level of 34.650 per euro. 
    The crown ended at 34.590 per euro as of 1630 GMT, down from 
34.450 late on Tuesday. 
    "Investors are closing some positions on prospects that 
dollar yields will not fall in the coming months," VUB bank 
dealer Laco Benedek said.  
    The Slovak currency is now 1.6 percent weaker than its 
record high of 34.05 per euro seen at the end of 2006, partly 
due to central bank interventions aimed at slowing down the 
currency's record-breaking rise in the past weeks of last year. 
    However, dealers said Slovakia's strong economic growth and 
prospects of euro adoption in 2009 should protect the crown from 
a significant fall even if neighbouring central European markets 
continued to slide. 
----------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 1630 GMT ----------------- 
 Crown/euro  34.590 vs 34.450 on Tuesday (-0.40 pct) 
 Crown/dollarb  26.720 vs 26.510 (-0.78 pct) 
5-yr govt bond  yield 4.225/4.026 
7-yr govt bond  yield 4.240/4.110 
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[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]