Slovak crown eases further, eyes region for trend

    The Slovak crown continued to 
weaken on Wednesday morning as investors cut positions in 
central European currencies, and dealers said the mood on bigger 
markets in the region will be key for future crown moves. 
    The crown traded at 35.025 per euro as of 0930 GMT, compared 
with 34.835 at the close of local trading on Tuesday. 
    "The crown is going with the region now, but the move could 
intensify if the weakening triggered stop-losses," said VUB Bank 
dealer Laco Benedek. 
    The crown has lost 1.8 percent against the euro this week, 
as the regional selling mood combined with Slovak central bank 
efforts to cap the rise of its currency through repo auctions. 
    The crown is expected to follow trends on emerging markets 
in the coming days, and the next domestic impetus will come from 
a central bank monetary policy meeting on Jan. 30. 
    Some analysts said the central bank could cut the main 
interest rate from the current 4.75 percent after the crown's 
strong rally at the end of last year tightened monetary 
conditions and improved the inflation outlook. 
    But market watchers said recent crown volatility would 
probably prevent monetary policy easing in January. 
----------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0930 GMT ----------------- 
 Crown/euro  35.025 vs 34.835 on Monday (-0.50 pct) 
 Crown/dollar   26.940 vs 26.714 (-0.8) 
5-yr govt bond  yield 4.298/136 vs 4.351/110 pct 
7-yr govt bond  yield 4.312/181 vs 4.398/159 pct 
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[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]