Slovak crown holds steady, eyes cbank repo tender

    The Slovak crown hovered near 
six-week highs on Monday as investors waited for a central bank 
repo tender on Tuesday to set the further trend. 
    The crown was at 34.280 to the euro  as of 0810 
GMT, flat from Friday's close and just 0.7 percent off its 
all-time highs of 34.050 per euro from Dec. 28. The unit hit a 
six-week high of 34.250 against the euro last week. 
    "It will be a quiet trading as the market waits for the repo 
tender, which will indicate what's next for the crown," said 
Slovenska Sporitelna dealer Vladimir Gajdos. 
    "If the crown remains at these levels, I think the central 
bank will reject some bids," he said. 
    The central bank rejected part of the bids in some of its 
regular repo auctions in January and February to keep excess 
crown liquidity in the market and thus prevent speculative 
capital inflows from pushing the crown too high. 
    The crown has been rising on Slovakia's strong economic 
growth, at 9.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006, and 
positive mood on European emerging markets. 
    The Slovak unit is now 10.9 percent above its central parity 
in the Exchange Rate Mechanism 2 (ERM 2), which Slovakia entered 
in November 2005 as part of the plan to adopt the euro in 2009. 
------------------ MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0810 GMT ----------------- 
Crown/euro  34.280 vs 34.295 on Friday (+0.04 pct) 
Crown/dollar   26.089 vs 26.145 (+0.21 pct)  
5-yr govt bond  yield 4.252/4.048 vs 4.351/3.951 pct 
7-yr govt bond  yield 4.320/4.156 vs 4.403/4.203 pct 
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[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]