BUCHAREST, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The Polish zloty and the
Hungarian forint regained some ground against the euro early on
Friday, as some players returned to the market after the
previous session's sharp losses.
Central European currencies were under pressure this week,
with the Czech crown and Polish zloty losing more than 2 percent
on Thursday after the Czech central bank cut rates by its
biggest amount in six years and the Polish central bank governor
said there were more reasons to start an easing cycle.
"It seems there is a correction on currencies that fell on
Thursday after all the (Czech) rate cut and rate cuts comments,
mainly because uncertainty is still there, no-one could actually
be sure Poland, for instance, will cut rates," one dealer said.
At around 0900 GMT, the zloty <EURPLN=> traded 0.6 percent
firmer from the previous close at 3.61 per euro, while the
forint <EURHUF=> was 0.4 percent up to 262.3 per euro.
Meanwhile, the Czech crown continued its weakening, still
under pressure from Thursday's rate decision.
"The Czech crown will remain under significant pressure
until the end of the year due to aggressive steps of the Czech
central bank. We don't rule out the crown will go up again over
26 per euro in the near future," CSOB bank said in a research
note.
The Czech crown <EURCZK=> was down 0.5 percent to 25.06 per
euro. In other trade, the Romanian leu <EURRON=> was 0.2 percent
up to 3.713 to the euro, the Croatian kuna <EURHRK=> traded flat
at 7.135 to the euro, while the Serb dinar was down 0.3 percent
to 87.417 per euro.
The most battered currency in the region was the dinar in
Serbia, where the central bank has intervened several times this
week to combat concerns about the country's external financing,
which became harder to stomach for investors.
Central banks in the euro zone, Britain and Switzerland also
made deep cuts in their key rates in response to worsening
growth outlooks.
Elsewhere in the region, Hungary and Serbia have raised
interest rates in the past month to defend currencies, while
Romania is seen holding fire on rates for the time being,
because of uncertainty on government policies after the Nov. 30
election.
Early on Friday, Hungary announced its foreign exchange
reserves went up to 17.804 billion euros in October from 17.409
billion euros in September. The Czech forex reserves edged up to
26.65 billion euros at the end of last month.
The Polish central bank is also due to release forex
reserves data.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT-------------------------
Currency Latest Previous Local Local
close currency currency
change change
today in 2008
Czech crown <EURCZK=> 25.06 24.943 -0.47% +5.42%
Polish zloty <EURPLN=> 3.61 3.631 +0.58% -0.26%
Hungarian forint <EURHUF=> 262.3 263.27 +0.37% -3.74%
Croatian kuna <EURHRK=> 7.135 7.135 0% +2.61%
Romanian leu <EURRON=> 3.713 3.719 +0.16% -3.71%
Serbian dinar <EURRSD=> 87.417 87.157 -0.3% -10.99%
*Benchmark is German bond equivalent.
All data taken from Reuters at 1059 CET.
Currency percent change calculated from the daily domestic
close at 1500 GMT.
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(Reporting by Reuters bureaus, Writing by Dagmara
Leszkowicz/Jason Hovet/Sandor Peto; Editing by Andy Bruce)
