(Updates comment, changes dateline from previous WARSAW)
PRAGUE, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Poland's zloty fell around 1
percent on Friday and other central European currencies were
stable, despite more dismal economic data greeting markets in
the first trading session of the new year.
The zloty <EURPLN=> slipped to 4.158 per euro by 1445 GMT,
continuing a weakening trend seen in the second half of 2008
shared by its regional peers and spurred by darkening growth
outlooks. Dealers said trade was light to start 2009.
The Czech crown <EURCZK=> was stable on Friday at 26.75 per
euro, up 0.2 percent from Wednesday's levels. Markets in
Budapest and Bucharest remained shut.
"(The zloty) is still moving in a range seen before
Christmas holidays, thus it is hard to put more weight to the
current moves. The market is very shallow," said Jacek
Tomaszewicz, an FX dealer at Kredyt Bank.
"Next week the zloty is likely to remain stable, as there is
no important macro data and risk aversion amongst foreign
investors remains high."
The region's currencies fell sharply in the latter half of
2008, wiping out gains seen early in the year, after the
expanding global financial crisis and subsequent economic slide
filtered into central Europe.
On Friday, data showed emerging European manufacturing
plunged to new lows in December, prompting economists to say the
Czechs could follow the reeling euro zone into recession and
adding to the case for more cuts in interest rates soon.
[]
Also on Friday, Poland's finance ministry published its
inflation forecast showing consumer prices last month rose 3.4
percent annually, down from 3.7 percent in November.
One Polish central banker said further rate cuts were
possible as early as this month [].
Concerns over weak growth due to waning export demand
coupled with falling inflation are expected to further fuel
monetary policy easing in the region, weighing on currencies,
analysts say.
"Higher risk aversion in respect to emerging markets can
afflict the Czech crown in the first half of the year, and also
not very good data on the performance and external balance of
the economy will be released," Raiffeisen analysts in Prague
wrote on Friday.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT-------------------------
Currency Latest Previous Local Local
close currency currency
change change
today in 2009
Czech crown <EURCZK=> 26.755 26.82 +0.24% -0.01%
Polish zloty <EURPLN=> 4.158 4.118 -0.97% -1.04%
Hungarian forint <EURHUF=> 266.4 265.88 -0.2% -1.08%
Croatian kuna <EURHRK=> 7.332 7.378 +0.62% +0.45%
Romanian leu <EURRON=> 4.014 4.014 0% +0.01%
Serbian dinar <EURRSD=> 89.79 89.79 0% -0.35%
Yield Spreads
Czech treasury bonds <0#CZBMK=>
3-yr T-bond CZ3YT=RR +4 basis points to 178bps over bmk*
5-yr T-bond CZ5YT=RR +4 basis points to +153bps over bmk*
10-yr T-bond CZ9YT=RR +10 basis points to +128bps over bmk*
*Benchmark is German bond equivalent.
All data taken from Reuters at 1546 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 []
Spot FX rates Eastern Europe spot FX <EEFX=>
Middle East spot FX <MEFX=> Asia spot FX <ASIAFX=>
Latin America spot FX <LATAMFX=>
Other news and reports
World central bank news [] Economic Data Guide <ECONGUIDE>
Official rates [] Emerging Diary []
Top events [] Diaries [] Diaries Index []
(Reporting by Reuters bureaus, Writing by Jason Hovet and
Dagmara Leszkowicz; Editing by Andy Bruce)
