* Zloty weaker ahead of quarterly C/A data
* C.bank plays down market nerves of major revision
* Romanian cbank decides on rates, analyst see no change
By Marcin Goettig
WARSAW, March 31 (Reuters) - Central European currencies
were mixed on Thursday morning, with the zloty remaining at
weaker levels ahead of quarterly balance of payments data as
concerns over the data calculations weigh on the Polish unit.
Investors are worried because Poland's 2010 balance of
payments data show 'errors and omissions' amounting to 4 percent
of gross domestic product, which is larger than the reported
deficit on the current account.
The central bank, however, said a revision should come only
in June, signalling market fears of a change already in
Thursday's data were unfounded.
"I think that a good moment for such adjustments will be
when data for the first quarter is released, that is in June,"
Jozef Sobota, director of the statistics departmemt at the
central bank was quoted on Thursday as saying by Parkiet daily.
The zloty weakened on Wednesday as analysts at HSBC said
they would sell the zloty against the euro on risks that the
balance of payments data may bring a substantial upward revision
of imports, which could hit growth figures. []
Market players say the unit should gain some ground if the
data is not revised significantly.
"If there is no major revision to the current account data,
then the zloty should gain," Karol Zaluski, head of FX trading
at ING Bank Slaski said. "However, investors will remember the
revision may finally come and the scale of the strengthening of
the zloty may be limited. This is still a considerable risk."
The data is due to be published at 1200 GMT.
At 0745 GMT the zloty <EURPLN=> edged some 0.1 percent lower
against the euro.
Separately, the central bank will also release its household
inflation expectations data at 1200 GMT and the finance ministry
will present its debt supply plan for the second quarter.
ROMANIAN RATES
The market is also awaiting Romania's central bank rate
decision, with analysts expecting no change. []
<RO/POLL2>
"Should the bank sound a little more hawkish this might
provide support for the leu, but even this effect is likely to
be marginal," Commerzbank said in a note.
"It should be clear that due to the weak economic growth the
central bank will be unable to change rates for the foreseeable
future."
Romania's leu <EURRON=> fell some 0.2 percent by 0745 GMT.
The Czech crown <EURCZK=> was within its recent range on the
weak side of 24.500 per euro. Dealers said markets would be
looking to a midday auction of 1-year treasury bills as rate
hike expectations begin to influence yields.
Markets are pricing in the start of a tightening cycle in
the Czech Republic by mid-year.
The Hungarian forint <EURHUF=> gained 0.2 percent after the
relaese of monthly current acocunt data.
Hungary posted a current account surplus of 366 million
euros in the fourth quarter after a revised 439 million euros
surplus in the third quarter <HUCAQ=ECI>, the National Bank of
Hungary said on Thursday. []
--------------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT--------------------
Currency Latest Previous Local Local
close currency currency
change change
today in 2011
Czech crown <EURCZK=> 24.542 24.515 -0.11% +1.87%
Polish zloty <EURPLN=> 4.014 4.012 -0.05% -1.4%
Hungarian forint <EURHUF=> 266.14 266.71 +0.21% +4.45%
Croatian kuna <EURHRK=> 7.374 7.374 0% +0.08%
Romanian leu <EURRON=> 4.11 4.104 -0.15% +2.99%
Serbian dinar <EURRSD=> 103.5 103.57 +0.07% +2.34%
All data taken from Reuters at 0945 CET.
Currency percent change calculated from the daily domestic
close at 1600 GMT.
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(Reporting by Reuters bureaus, Writing by Marcin Goettig;
editing by Patrick Graham)
