* Weak euro vs dollar, stocks drag down CEE FX
* Hungary assets could see post-election boost
* Forint holds more than 3 pct Sept gain, off April peak
PRAGUE, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Central European currencies
slipped on Thursday as the euro fell against the dollar, pushing
the Hungarian forint off a four-month peak, but its losses were
limited ahead of a weekend election that could pave the way for
more spending cuts.
Emerging European stock markets fell as much as 0.3 percent,
tracking western peer markets and adding to the pressure on
currencies.
The euro, the region's main reference currency, fell versus
the dollar after Ireland detailed its bill for bailing out Anglo
Irish Bank and Moody's downgraded Spain. []
The forint fell 0.1 percent to 277.3 to the euro by 0731
GMT, while the Polish zloty <EURPLN=> and Romanian leu <EURRON=>
dipped similar amount. The Czech crown <EURCZK=> was flat,
locked in its recent range around 24.600 to the euro.
"We are watching the euro/dollar, so we are little bit lower
but central European currencies are mostly stable," said Ivo
Prokop, a dealer at Raiffeisenbank in Prague. "But people will
try to be longer (in euros versus the crown) at these levels."
The crown is now trading about half a percent off a 22-month
high hit earlier this month, adding about 0.8 percent in
September overall. The forint has been the best-performing
emerging European currency in September with a 3.4 percent rise.
The Hungarian unit could recover more of the losses it has
seen since April after Oct. 3 local elections likely cement the
ruling Fidesz party's hold on power.
Fidesz has spooked markets since sweeping April elections by
comparing its debt problems with those of Greece and suspending
International Monetary Fund aid talks, and trades 5.8 percent
down from an April high.
After the elections it is expected to publish details of its
2011 budget, key to keeping investor confidence in Hungarian
assets, which have rebounded this month on pledges to cut next
year's budget gap to below 3 percent of economic output.
"Uncertainty around the election outcome should be fairly
small in our view and we expect the market focus to shift on the
publication of the 2011 budget," UniCredit said.
"As we expect this to confirm the already announced
3 percent deficit target for 2011, we continue to recommend
constructive positions going into this period."
--------------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT--------------------
Currency Latest Previous Local Local
close currency currency
change change
today in 2010
Czech crown <EURCZK=> 24.572 24.573 0% +7.11%
Polish zloty <EURPLN=> 3.984 3.979 -0.13% +3.01%
Hungarian forint <EURHUF=> 277.3 277.14 -0.06% -2.51%
Croatian kuna <EURHRK=> 7.296 7.295 -0.01% +0.18%
Romanian leu <EURRON=> 4.273 4.269 -0.09% -0.83%
Serbian dinar <EURRSD=> 106.34 106.01 -0.31% -9.84%
All data taken from Reuters at 0933 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 Hugh Lawson)
