* Currencies little changed, but Ireland closely watched
* Polish rate hike bets fade, but ENEA talks could help PLN
By Marius Zaharia
BUCHAREST, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Central European currencies
opened little changed on Wednesday, but remained on a weaker
footing as market jitters were expected to increase for as long
as Ireland's debt crisis sees no quick fix.
The Irish debt woes have hurt central European assets over
the past few sessions, but to a lesser extent than during the
Greek crisis in April-May as the spillover risk was more clear
at that time due to Greek banking exposure in the region.
However, despite lower debt levels, some investors place
emerging Europe's assets in a similar risk category with euro
zone peripherals due to high fiscal imbalances and slow policy
response to them.
"Normally we see strong upside reaction in Emerging Europe
crosses versus the EUR," said Simon Quijano-Evans of Cheuvreux.
"However, this time around it is more of a euro
zone-specific issue, as reflected in the relatively subdued
reaction of EME (emerging Europe's) currencies to the latest
downside action in EUR/USD."
At 0841 GMT, the Polish zloty <EURPLN=> and the Hungarian
forint <EURHUF=> were 0.1-0.2 percent higher, taking a breather
after a daily fall of around half-a-percent on Tuesday. The
Romanian leu <EURRON=> and the Czech crown <EURCZK=> were flat.
Czech markets were closed for a national holiday.
A Budapest-based dealer said the forint could fall to 280
per euro, its lowest since Sept. 24, if Irish woes weaken it
past October's low of 278.30.
The zloty underperformed in the previous session after
central banker Andrzej Bratkowski, known as an ardent hawk, said
the currency's strength has offset the need to raise interest
rates immediately.
Fellow policymaker Anna Zielinska-Glebocka -- who had seemed
to be swinging towards supporting a rise -- also struck a more
cautious note. []
BNP Paribas said, however, a reopening of talks on the sale
of Enea <ENAE.WA> with at least another bidder alongside the
country's richest man, Jan Kulczyk, reignited expectations of
hard currency inflows, which could help the zloty on Wednesday
and support its long PLNHUF position. []
--------------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT--------------------
Currency Latest Previous Local Local
close currency currency
change change
today in 2010
Czech crown <EURCZK=> 24.616 24.616 0% +6.91%
Polish zloty <EURPLN=> 3.957 3.961 +0.1% +3.71%
Hungarian forint <EURHUF=> 277.27 277.8 +0.19% -2.5%
Croatian kuna <EURHRK=> 7.388 7.388 0% -1.07%
Romanian leu <EURRON=> 4.295 4.295 0% -1.34%
Serbian dinar <EURRSD=> 106.75 106.83 +0.07% -10.18%
All data taken from Reuters at 0941 CET.
Currency percent change calculated from the daily domestic
close at 1600 GMT.
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(Reporting by Reuters bureaus, Writing by Marius Zaharia;
Editing by Giles Elgood)
