Slovak crown stronger, seen staying rangebound

    BRATISLAVA, Dec 1 (Reuters) - The Slovak crown <EURSKK=> was 
hovering in sight of lifetime high against the euro early on 
Friday, and dealers said they expected rangebound trading in the 
coming days. 
    The currency briefly touched a record peak of 35.454 to the 
euro on Thursday, fuelled by continuing inflow of funds into 
central European assets, and traders said the crown's mid-term 
outlook remained bright. 
    The crown set off stronger before givng back some ground on 
Friday, and traded at 35.550 to the euro as of 0920 GMT, from 
35.590 late on Thursday. 
    "The crown will not continue firming significantly at the 
moment, the downside (stronger levels) is limited," one 
Bratislava-based trader at a foreign bank said. 
    "A range of 35.500-35.650 should hold for today." 
    Traders expected an increased trading volatility in the 
weeks ahead given the traditional end-year profit taking, but 
added the crown's outlook remained bullish. 
    The Slovak unit has been driven up in the past two months by 
a mix of buoyant sentiment on emerging markets and positive 
domestic impulses, such as record 9.8 percent GDP growth in the 
third quarter. 
    The Slovak unit, the best performing currency in central 
Europe this year, is now trading 8.2 percent above its central 
parity within the Exchange Rate Mechanism 2 (ERM-2), which the 
Slovaks joined in November last year. 
----------------MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0920 GMT------------------- 
Crown/Euro <EURSKK=> 35.550 vs 35.590 on Thursday (+0.11 pct) 
Crown/Dollar <SKK=> 26.843 vs 26.885 (+0.15 pct) 
5-yr govt bond <SK5YT=RR> yield unchanged at 4.399/4.200 pct 
8-yr govt bond <SK8YT=RR> yield 4.250/4.200 vs 4.248/4.047 pct 
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 ((Reporting by Martin Santa, editing by Chris Pizzey; Reuters 
Messaging: martin.santa.reuters.com@reuters.net; +421 5341 
8402)) 
  Keywords: MARKETS SLOVAKIA CROWN MORNING