BUDAPEST, June 26 (Reuters) - Eastern European currencies
strengthened in unison on Friday, approaching key levels as risk
appetite returned.
The Polish zloty, the Czech crown, the Hungarian forint and
the Romanian leu were all stronger by about half a percent from
Thursday's close just after the market opened.
The crown edged below 26 to the euro, one day after the
Czech central bank surprised markets by leaving interest rates
on hold at an all-time low of 1.5 percent.
Markets had expected a quarter point cut. []
"We are still caught in a range," a dealer said, adding
resistance levels were at 25.800 and 26.400 on the upper end.
The zloty will test levels at 4.45 to the euro, while the
forint could attack 270, although a major breakthrough was
unlikely before next week, dealers said.
The zloty was trading at 4.486 per euro, the forint at 275.
"If this good sentiment will also be present on the European
stock exchanges and the dollar will continue to lose then there
is a chance the zloty will gain to below 4.45," said Adam
Antoniak, senior economist at BPH Bank in Warsaw.
"If zloty ends the week below 4.50 per euro then this would
bode well for the next week."
Local factors played a lesser part, dealers said, but the
week has already provided plenty of fodder to trade on.
Hungary's central bank held its benchmark lending rate at
9.5 percent, which, after a cut by the National Bank of Poland,
made it an attractive carry trade proposal, a dealer in Budapest
said.
In Prague, more optimistic comments on the economy from the
central bank, which voted 4-1 not to cut on Thursday, should
help buoy the crown.
"Everybody was expecting a cut but it seems they are not
even thinking about this at the moment," a dealer said.
Central banks are not turning hawkish yet, Unicredit wrote
in a note.
"We feel that both the CNB and NBP are more taking a pause
in their cycles to see what data will reveal in the coming
months," Unicredit said. "There is hope that the worst of the
slump is over and no more monetary stimulus will be needed."
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT-------------------------
Currency Latest Previous Local Local
close currency currency
change change
today in 2009
Czech crown <EURCZK=> 25.91 26.04 +0.5% +3.25%
Polish zloty <EURPLN=> 4.486 4.512 +0.58% -8.27%
Hungarian forint <EURHUF=> 275.25 276.9 +0.6% -4.25%
Croatian kuna <EURHRK=> 7.3 7.305 +0.07% +0.89%
Romanian leu <EURRON=> 4.206 4.224 +0.43% -4.56%
Serbian dinar <EURRSD=> 93.817 94.042 +0.24% -4.62%
All data taken from Reuters at 0925 CET.
Currency percent change calculated from the daily domestic
close at 1600 GMT.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux, writing by Marton Dunai, editing
by Mike Peacock)
