CEE MARKETS 2-FX retreat as global stocks turn negative

                                
 * Poland leads regional currency easing
                                
 * Global stock falls, dollar firming chief cause for falls
                                
 * Romania output plunges, Czech jobless rate rises
                                
 
                                
 (Adds fixed income, stocks, updates)
                                
 By Balazs Koranyi and Gergely Szakacs
                                
 BUDAPEST, April 8 (Reuters) - Emerging European currencies
opened broadly weaker on Wednesday, led by the zloty, as global
stocks turned negative and traders said market activity is
likely to ease as the region approaches a long holiday weekend.
                                
 Currencies eased on the back of the Polish zloty's 1.4
percent <EURPLN=> fall. Sentiment has been weakened by bearish
equity market expectations for the global first-quarter earnings
season and by the dollar's overnight firming versus the euro,
which usually puts pressure on emerging market assets.
                                
 Most of the region's stock markets also opened lower, with
Poland's bourse the key exception, posting modest, broad-based
gains.
                                
 The zloty fell after a central bank official was quoted as
saying that 2009 would not be a good time for Poland to enter
the ERM-2 currency grid, the waiting room for the euro.
                                
 Under its plan to join the euro in 2012, Poland would have
to enter the ERM-2 exchange rate regime in the first half of
2009. [ID:nL8304020]
                                
 But the zloty's recent volatility has led the government to
signal a possible delay.
                                
 Polish bonds were broadly steady as markets awaited a bond
tender. "The 10-year bond tender should attract big interest and
push prices higher on the longer end of the curve. It should
also help the zloty," ING Bank wrote in a note to clients.
                                
 A Warsaw-based dealer added: "This will be a true test for
the market."
                                
 The Czech crown, which slipped 0.3 percent, shrugged off
news that unemployment jumped to a slightly higher than expected
7.7 percent in March, from 7.4 percent a month earlier and rose
more than 2 percentage points from a year earlier. [nPRA002492]
                                
 A political deal on an interim Czech cabinet looked to
remain intact, despite two small parties pulling out of a deal
that would support a caretaker government to take the nation to
early elections in October. [nL8320674]
                                
 "The activity (in the region) is decreasing... we have one
day off (on Friday), but there are more free days in Europe ...
so I think it shall be a bit more quiet," Ivan Prokop, dealer at
Raiffeisenbank in Prague said.
                                
 Romania's leu also weakened against the euro <EURRON=> after
data showed that adjusted industrial output fell 12 percent
year-on-year in February, reflecting a steep downturn in demand
in western Europe and domestic consumption. [nL8707118]
                                
 Romania's central bank is likely to cut rates by a quarter
point in May, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday, after tumbling
demand likely eased inflation in March and deepened an expected
economic contraction. [ID:nL7396138]
                                
 Hungary's forint <EURHUF=> was also a touch weaker.
                                
 "By the standards of the past few months, it's looking like
a quiet day but the trend is clearly for weakening and we could
look at 300 before the day is over," a dealer said.
                                
 "I don't think 300 is a particularly strong technical level
but psychologically, it is key so I expect some jostling there.
Unless flows are cranked up a bit, breaking through 300 could be
difficult."
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT-----------------------
Currency                    Latest   Previous Local    Local
                                
                                  close    currency currency
                                
                                           change   change
                                
                                           today    in 2009 
Czech crown      <EURCZK=>   26.632    26.55  -0.31%   +0.45%
Polish zloty     <EURPLN=>   4.501    4.438   -1.4%    -8.58%
Hungarian forint <EURHUF=>   297.7    296.66  -0.35%    -11.47%
Croatian kuna    <EURHRK=>   7.422    7.421   -0.01%    -0.77%
Romanian leu     <EURRON=>   4.182    4.163   -0.45%    -4.01%
Serbian dinar    <EURRSD=>   93.277    94.117 +0.9%    -4.07%
Yield Spreads
Czech treasury bonds <0#CZBMK=>
2-yr T-bond   CZ2YT=RR   +7 basis points to  215bps over bmk*
4-yr T-bond   CZ4YT=RR   +3 basis points to  +242bps over bmk*
8-yr T-bond   CZ8YT=RR   +3 basis points to  +307bps over bmk*

Polish treasury bonds <0#PLBMK=>
2-yr T-bond   PL2YT=RR    0 basis points to  +420bps over bmk*
5-yr T-bond   PL5YT=RR    0 basis points to  +367bps over bmk*
10-yr T-bond PL10YT=RR   +1 basis points to  +310bps over bmk*
                                
 
Hungarian treasury bonds <0#HUBMK=>
3-yr T-bond   HU3YT=RR    -6 basis points to  +968bps over bmk*
5-yr T-bond   HU5YT=RR    -5 basis points to  +920bps over bmk*
10-yr T-bond   HU10YT=RR  -7 basis points to  +782bps over bmk*
*Benchmark is German bond equivalent.
All data taken from Reuters at 1001 CET.
Currency percent change calculated from the daily domestic 
close at 1500 GMT.
 (Reporting by Reuters bureaus, writing by Balazs Koranyi and
Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)