BUDAPEST, July 2 (Reuters) - Regional currencies rebounded from recent losses as the euro gained versus the dollar, spelling improved risk appetite, and investors kept a keen eye on Romania's ongoing IMF negotiations.
The Hungarian forint <EURHUF=>, a recent underperformer, lead gains at 0.8 percent versus the euro at 0709 GMT, and also clawed its way back against the Swiss franc <EURCHF=>, which set new highs against the forint this week, trading at 214.40 after nearly breaking the 219 level on Thursday.
The Polish zloty <EURPLN=> added 0.7 percent and the Romanian leu <EURRON=> 0.6 percent. The Czech crown <EURCZK=>, the only emerging European currency to post gains versus the euro so far this year, was 0.2 percent stronger.
"The euro broke a key technical level and that gave a boost to the region's currencies," a Budapest-based dealer said.
"Eurozone PPI and U.S. payroll figures will set core market risk appetite and the course of emerging market assets today. For the forint, that probably means we'll head south for a while, but we'll close on the weak side of (EUR/HUF) 285."
Investors eyed Romania's discussions with the IMF, which will discuss whether to release the next EUR 850 million tranche of aid the the country.
"If the IMF approves the scheduled disbursement of the fifth tranche, as we expect, this would translate in a relief for the RON, which is around 2.5 percent weaker than last week, when the decision of the Constitutional Court put pressure on Romanian assets," UniCredit said in a note.
Analysts remained wary of a sour turn in the economy, however, with UniCredit saying the outlook would prompt central banks to postpone interest rate hikes in the region to 2011.
The Czech central bank says risks to its macroeconomic forecasts remain balanced, but uncertainty also remain high. [
]In Poland, the central bank's inflation projection showed economic growth may accelerate to 3.2 percent this year and should speed up further in 2011 to 4.6 percent mainly thanks to increased public investment. [
]Markets also eyed the upcoming second round of Poland's presidential elections, to be held on Sunday.
"The vote will be a close call and will be a determinant for the political picture in the coming 5 years," Cheuvreux analyst Simon Quijano Evans said in a note.
"If Mr. Komorowski wins, we can expect a calmer picture as far as presidential-government relations are concerned." --------------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT-------------------- Currency Latest Previous Local Local
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today in 2010 Czech crown <EURCZK=> 25.688 25.726 +0.15% +2.45% Polish zloty <EURPLN=> 4.136 4.165 +0.7% -0.77% Hungarian forint <EURHUF=> 284.81 287.16 +0.83% -5.08% Croatian kuna <EURHRK=> 7.194 7.194 0% +1.6% Romanian leu <EURRON=> 4.314 4.34 +0.6% -1.78% Serbian dinar <EURRSD=> 104.45 104.49 +0.04% -8.2% All data taken from Reuters at 0909 CET. Currency percent change calculated from the daily domestic close at 1600 GMT. For related news and prices, click on the codes in brackets: All emerging market news [
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