Slovakia - Factors To Watch on Feb 12

    Here are news stories, press 
repors and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial 
markets on Monday. 
     
    PRESIDENT TO MEET TRADE UNIONS 
    President Ivan Gasparovic will meet trade unions officials, 
11 a.m. (1000 GMT). 
     
    CPI ABOVE FORECASTS, RATE CUT TIMING BLURRED 
    Higher than expected Slovak consumer price data on Friday 
could blur the timing of an expected interest rate cut, but does 
not jeopardise the country's drive toward euro entry, analysts 
said. 
    [ID:nL09542475] [RTRS-MCE-ECI-SK] 
     
    PARLIAMENT APPROVES LAW BOOSTING UNIONS 
    Slovakia's leftist government pushed through parliament a 
law boosting the powers of trade unions on Friday, despite heavy 
criticism by opposition MPs and employers who fear the move 
threatens economic competitiveness. 
    [ID:nL09619676] [RTRS-POL-JOB-SK] 
     
    JAN CPI ABOVE FORECASTS 
    Slovak consumer prices rose by 1.0 percent month-on-month in 
January, putting the annual inflation rate at 3.0 percent, the 
Statistics Office said on Friday. 
    [ID:nL09701356] [RTRS-MCE-ECI-SK] 
     
    TRADE GAP WIDENS IN DEC 
    Slovakia's foreign trade balance showed a deficit of 12.48 
billion crowns ($468.3 million) in December, compared with a 
revised gap of 9.37 billion in November, the Statistics Office 
said on Friday. 
    [ID:nL09567959] [RTRS-MCE-ECI-TRD-SK] 
     
    C.BANK FOREX RESERVES DROP TO $13.8 BLN 
    The Slovak central bank's (NBS) foreign currency reserves 
edged down $13.799 to billion as of Feb. 7, from $14.005 billion 
one week earlier, the bank said on Friday. 
    [ID:nL09611489] [RTRS-CEN-FRX-SK] 
     
    CROWN FIRMS ON CPI DATA, SEEN STRONGER 
    The Slovak crown closed stronger against the euro after a 
roller-coaster session on Friday, as disappointing inflation 
data suggested a delay in the expected monetary policy easing, 
traders said. 
    [ID:nL0962609] [RTRS-MMT-FRX-SK] 
     
    PRESS DIGEST 
    ------------ 
    SLOVAKIA SEEN OPPOSING KOSOVO PLAN 
    Slovakia's ruling coalition said the U.N. plan on Kosovo 
future status was only a starting platform for further talks. 
Ruling coalition officials said they expected parliament to vote 
against Kosovo independence. 
    Sme, page 1 
     
    GOVT TIGHTENS GRIP OVER SPP 
    The ruling coalition has approved new state representatives 
for the board of directors and the supervisory board of the 
natural gas monopoly SPP. Some of the nominees have 
controversial business or political past. 
    Hospodarske Noviny, page 1 
     
    United States and other Group of Seven countries, see 
. For a diary of forthcoming Slovak events, double 
click [SK/DIARY], and a calendar of east European economic 
indicators, see [CONV/DIARY]. 
     
    News editor of the day: Peter Laca on +421 2 5341 8402; fax: 
+421 2 5341 8403 
    E-mail: editorial@reuters.sk 
    Reuters Messaging: martin.dokoupil.reuters.com@reuters.net 
     
 For real-time index quotes, double click in brackets: 
 Warsaw WIG20   Budapest BUX   Prague PX50  
 Other related news: 
 Slovak equities      [SK-E]  E.Europe equities           [.CEE] 
 Slovak money         [SK-M]  Czech debt                  [CZ-D] 
 Slovak Indicators  [SK-ECI]  Emerging forex          [EMRG/FRX] 
 Eastern European     [EEU]   All emerging markets        [EMRG] 
 Hot stocks           [HOT]   Stock markets                [STX] 
 Market debt news     [DBT]   Forex news                   [FRX] 
 TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets                         [TOP/EMRG] 
 TOP NEWS -- Convergence watch                        [TOP/EAST] 
 
 ((Compiled by Martin Santa; Bratislava Newsroom; Email: 
editorial@reuters.sk; +421-2-5341-8402)) 
 ($1=26.92 Slovak Crown) 
  

[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]