Slovak crown up, seen calm before cbank meeting

    The Slovak crown firmed 
slightly against the euro on Thursday, but dealers expected it 
to keep moving within its recent range before the central bank's 
(NBS) rate-setting meeting next week. 
    The crown traded at 34.340 per euro  as of 0845 
GMT, up from 34.385 late on Wednesday. The unit hit a one-week 
low of 34.450 in the previous session on a bearish regional 
mood. 
    "We expect the crown to trade close to current levels," KBC 
Bank wrote in a market note. "The next key domestic event will 
be the central bank's policy rate decision next Tuesday. Until 
then a wait-and-see mode should prevail on the market." 
    The crown was locked in a narrow range of 34.200-34.450 per 
euro over the past week. It firmed to a seven-week high of 
34.210 per euro on Tuesday after the NBS accepted all bids in 
its repo tender, signalling it was happy with the crown moves. 
    Analysts polled by Reuters expect the central bank to stay 
put for the fifth month in a row on Feb. 27, keeping the key 
two-week repo rate at 4.75 percent. 
    They widely predict the bank would not start easing monetary 
policy before the second half of the year as it needs more 
information on the inflation outlook and economic growth 
structure before making the next step. 
------------------ MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0845 GMT ----------------- 
Crown/euro  34.340 vs 34.385 on Wednesday (+0.13 pct)  
Crown/dollar   26.221 vs 26.190 (-0.12) 
5-yr govt bond  yield 4.346/4.126 vs 4.308/4.087 pct 
7-yr govt bond  yield 4.406/4.186 vs 4.675/4.155 pct 
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[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]