BUDAPEST, July 2 (Reuters) - East European currencies edged
back a touch on Thursday after sharp gains the previous session,
with markets slowing before an ECB rate decision and U.S.
payroll data later in the day.
The Polish zloty, the Czech crown, the Hungarian forint and
the Romanian leu all lost ground to the euro, but none more than
a quarter of one percent, as the region slipped back into
ranges.
Regional stock markets all opened slightly weaker as well,
following core markets.
Regional currencies were expected in tight ranges, with the
forint seen between 268 and 272 to the euro, and the crown
between 25.60 and 25.80, dealers said.
The zloty, however, was seen as a potential outperformer,
and by 0727 GMT bid down 0.2 percent at 4.27 per euro.
The crown was down at 25.725 to the euro and the forint
stuck on the strong side of 270, pierced on Wednesday.
"A path to further strengthening (of the zloty) lays open,"
BPH analysts wrote in a daily note. Optimism on global equity
markets and potentially favourable U.S. unemployment data could
help the zloty to strengthen to 4.30 against euro, they added.
The zloty, which outperformed the region on Wednesday but
has shed the most in the past year, losing around a quarter of
its value, could maintain an edge, Unicredit said in a note.
"Although we're not that convinced by recent Polish fiscal
news flow, long-end bond market sentiment has at least
temporarily improved, which coupled with undeniably stretched
PLN/CEE crosses should allow some PLN catch-up," Unicredit said.
Trading could be busy ahead of the U.S. long weekend,
dealers said, and the crown especially could see some brisk
trading as Czech markets are closed on Monday.
Dealers in Prague say the crown is well overvalued. Czech
central bank governor Tuma, however, said current gains still
left the crown well below recent highs, which helps the economy.
"(Tuma's) comments clearly indicate that recent CZK gains
are not problematic for the CNB and therefore the current CZK
level would not be a decisive element in monetary policy
decision if current levels remain," Danske Bank said in a note.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT-------------------------
Currency Latest Previous Local Local
close currency currency
change change
today in 2009
Czech crown <EURCZK=> 25.725 25.691 -0.13% +4%
Polish zloty <EURPLN=> 4.371 4.363 -0.18% -5.86%
Hungarian forint <EURHUF=> 269.9 269.46 -0.16% -2.35%
Croatian kuna <EURHRK=> 7.272 7.285 +0.18% +1.28%
Romanian leu <EURRON=> 4.195 4.191 -0.1% -4.31%
Serbian dinar <EURRSD=> 92.94 93.277 +0.36% -3.72%
All data taken from Reuters at 0927 CET.
Currency percent change calculated from the daily domestic
close at 1500 GMT.
(Reporting by Marton Dunai)
