Slovak crown up, cbank repo tender key for trend

    The Slovak crown firmed 
against the euro on Monday and dealers said a central bank repo 
tender on Tuesday will show whether the unit has more room to 
rise further to new record highs. 
    The crown traded at 34.210 per euro  as of 1535 
GMT, hovering just 0.5 percent off its all-time highs of 34.050 
it hit late in December. It closed at 34.295 on Friday. 
    HVB Bank dealer Marian Sulko said the crown's near-term 
moves would depend on whether the central bank rejects bids in 
the regular repo tender to regulate the currency's firming pace. 
    The central bank rejected part of the bids in five of its 
weekly repo tenders earlier this year to keep banks with excess 
crown liquidity, which made the local unit less attractive for 
hot money and prevented it from jumping too high. 
    "If the central bank accepts all bids (in Tuesday's repo 
tender), we will immediately move to 34.0 per euro," Sulko said. 
    But dealers said they did not expect a major crown drop even 
if the central bank moved to cap the crown's rise and turned 
down some of the repo tender bids. 
------------------ MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 1535 GMT ----------------- 
Crown/euro  34.210 vs 34.295 on Friday (+0.25 pct) 
Crown/dollar   26.044 vs 26.145 (+0.39 pct)  
5-yr govt bond  yield 4.353/3.953 vs 4.351/3.951 pct 
7-yr govt bond  yield 4.403/4.203 vs 4.403/4.203 pct 
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[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]