* Weaker Swissie helps forint, other FX steady or up
* Romania debt sale watched
* Anti-austerity protests planned in Bucharest, Prague
PRAGUE, Sept 20 (Reuters) - The forint led gains in central
Europe on Monday, returning towards a three-week high hit at the
end of last week with the help of a weak Swiss franc, while the
Romanian leu was steady before a 6-month bill tender.
Central European currencies have moved back to stronger
ground after some weakness in the past month and with a lack of
key data for now, dealers said technical levels have started
providing resistance to sharp moves seen in the past.
Markets may be tested slightly this week with anti-austerity
protests by unions in Bucharest and Prague, while Budapest
starts talks with unions on wage proposals, but analysts say
governments were unlikely to be deterred from budget cutting.
The Hungarian forint <EURHUF=> rose 0.3 percent to 281.15 to
the euro by 0813 GMT, near highs seen in the middle of last
week.
The forint's 6 percent rise versus the franc <CHFHUF=> in
the past two weeks has translated to gains against its main
reference currency, the euro.
Hundreds of thousands of Hungarian households that have
taken out foreign currency mortgages have had to pay higher
mortgage payments due to a franc rally that drove the forint to
record lows against the Swiss currency this month.
"The weakness of the franc should ease pressure on the
forint," RBC Capital Markets wrote in a Monday report.
In other trade, the Polish zloty <EURPLN=> added 0.2 percent
and the Czech crown <EURCZK=> was down a touch.
Romania's leu <EURRON=> edged less than 0.1 percent down,
with markets eyeing the sale of 6-month paper and whether the
finance ministry will keep its 7 percent yield cap in place.
Analysts say the finance ministry has painted itself into a
corner by refusing to sell bonds at yields higher than 7 percent
and faces a funding crunch in November when yields could jump by
up to 1 percentage point. []
Protests could also be more challenging in Romania, where
unions are traditionally stronger than in other central European
states and the government is struggling to keep a 20 billion
euro IMF aid deal on track.
Romania's parliament passed a pension reform bill last week
but the weakened government faces battles in passing other
bills, including a value-added tax hike.
--------------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT--------------------
Currency Latest Previous Local Local
close currency currency
change change
today in 2010
Czech crown <EURCZK=> 24.667 24.652 -0.06% +6.69%
Polish zloty <EURPLN=> 3.951 3.958 +0.18% +3.87%
Hungarian forint <EURHUF=> 281.15 282.06 +0.32% -3.84%
Croatian kuna <EURHRK=> 7.281 7.282 +0.01% +0.39%
Romanian leu <EURRON=> 4.256 4.252 -0.09% -0.44%
Serbian dinar <EURRSD=> 105.27 105.34 +0.07% -8.92%
All data taken from Reuters at 1014 CET.
Currency percent change calculated from the daily domestic
close at 1600 GMT.
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(Reporting by Reuters bureaus, writing by Jason Hovet; Editing
by Ruth Pitchford)
