BUDAPEST, Aug 4 (Reuters) - East European currencies were
little changed on Wednesday, with Romania's leu steady after
news the country had met IMF and EU conditions for continuing
its 20 billion euro aid programme.
The Fund said on Wednesday that conditions for the release
of Romania's next tranche of aid had been fulfilled, while the
European Commission said the country was on track to meet its
budget deficit targets this year and next. []
The announcement came as no surprise after a government
minister told Reuters on Tuesday the IMF would set no fresh
conditions on the package. []
The Romanian central bank also meets and is expected to keep
rates unchanged at 6.25 percent, giving itself more time to
assess the impact of tax hikes and floods on inflation and
economic growth. []
By 0723 GMT the leu <EURRON=> was steady from Tuesday's
close, while the Polish zloty <EURPLN=> dropped 0.3 percent and
the Hungarian forint <EURHUF=> was 0.2 percent lower.
The Czech crown <EURCZK=> was up 0.1 percent.
Dealers said the Hungarian currency was expected to remain
confined to a relatively tight range of 280.50 and 282.50 versus
the euro on Wednesday.
"We started off in a quiet mode, with the forint trading in
the upper one-third of yesterday's range and I do not expect any
big movements," a Budapest currency dealer said.
The zloty drifted down in early trade, with dealers saying
the unit has been affected by a recent worsening of global
investor sentiment as well as domestic news about the
government's fiscal plan.
Poland's government on Tuesday approved a plan to cut the
country's budget deficit to the EU ceiling of 3 percent of GDP
in 2013, with measures including a partial value-added tax (VAT)
hike of 1 percentage point.
"S&P supported the Polish fiscal plans in a comment
yesterday, stating that they believe that the Polish government
is doing enough to keep public finances under control," Danske
Bank said in a note on Wednesday.
"We are disappointed in (it) ... as it lacks proposed
structural reforms of the labour market and the pension system."
Poland's finance ministry will offer up to 6 billion zlotys
in 2- and 5-year bonds at a tender with results at 1000 GMT.
"Today a lot will depend on the auction," analysts at BRE
bank wrote in a morning note. "A weaker auction may affect the
zloty." []
On the stock markets, Budapest's BUX <> was flat while
the Warsaw WIG20 <> was down 0.6 percent at 0726 GMT.
Prague's PX <> traded 0.5 percent higher.
--------------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT--------------------
Currency Latest Previous Local Local
close currency currency
change change
today in 2010
Czech crown <EURCZK=> 24.77 24.793 +0.09% +6.25%
Polish zloty <EURPLN=> 4.008 3.995 -0.32% +2.4%
Hungarian forint <EURHUF=> 281.98 281.3 -0.24% -4.12%
Croatian kuna <EURHRK=> 7.229 7.232 +0.04% +1.11%
Romanian leu <EURRON=> 4.241 4.239 -0.05% -0.08%
Serbian dinar <EURRSD=> 106.54 106.27 -0.25% -10.01%
All data taken from Reuters at 0920 CET.
Currency percent change calculated from the daily domestic
close at 1600 GMT.
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(Reporting by Reuters bureaus, Writing by Krisztina Than;
Editing by John Stonestreet)
