Slovak crown falls to more than 3-mo low vs euro

...the crown was at 34.320 per euro , 
compared with 34.333, its softest level since June 15, seen in 
early trade. It closed at 34.240 on Wednesday. 
    "Banks are closing short dollar positions in the region 
ahead of the ECB's (European Central Bank) meeting," said VUB 
Bank trader Laco Benedek. "The crown is also more prone to 
weakening due to the Eurostat woes." 
    Markets expect the ECB to leave the key rate at 4.0 percent 
later on Thursday. 
    The crown has lost 1.7 percent against the euro since Sept. 
13 on worries that Slovakia might miss the euro zone entry, 
planned for 2009, due to the EU's statistical service demand to 
recalculate its fiscal deficits. 
-----------------MARKET SNAPSHOT 0810 GMT --------------------- 
crown/euro    34.320 vs 34.240 on Wednesday (-0.23 pct) 
crown/dollar     24.315 vs 24.265 (-0.21 pct) 
5-yr govt bond due March 2012  at 4.65 pct bid vs 4.66 
10-yr govt bond due April 2017  at 4.82 pct vs 4.70 
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[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]