* Currencies add strong gains ahead of ECB, G20
* Czech, Polish debt auctions continue to help
* Global mood improves on U.S. and UK data
By Marius Zaharia
BUCHAREST, April 1 (Reuters) - Central European currencies
extended gains on Thursday, led by the Polish zloty as the
success of Wednesday's debt tenders continued to help and U.S.
data sparked some hope for investors.
Global risk appetite was boosted by U.S. factory and home
sales data released late on Wednesday, which spurred optimism
that the U.S economy has bottomed out, while house prices in
Britain posted their first rise since 2007.
In the region, stocks continued to climb, while well-bid
Czech and Polish debt auctions on Wednesday prompted investors
to turn more bullish after central European debt markets were
under pressure for months.
Market talk on Wednesday that the ECB may intervene to help
the currencies of EU's emerging markets also continues to give
support, dealers said, although analysts said this move was
unlikely to happen.
"Data in U.S. and UK, hopes for ECB helping the region and
the debt auctions give strong support," one dealer said.
"Bullish is the word for the markets today."
By 0736 GMT, the Polish zloty <EURPLN=> and the Hungarian
forint <EURHUF=> were leading gains in the region, adding around
1.5 percent from Wednesday's domestic close. The Czech crown
<EURCZK=> firmed about 0.6 percent and the Romanian leu edged
up.
But currencies were slightly off morning highs, and
investors were also eyeing an ECB meeting later in the day and
the results of a Group of 20 meeting in London.
"Even though the overall results of the G20 summit are
limited, effects for the EMEA currencies are likely to be
positive," Commerzbank said in a morning note.
"It is likely that the summit will agree to an increase of
IMF funds to the level required by the IMF of $250 billion."
While regional assets were rising, credit ratings agency
Moody's issued ratings downgrades on two of Austria's biggest
banks exposed to emerging Europe on Wednesday, following up on a
warning that rattled emerging European markets in February.
Moreover, Czech Republic and Hungary have been hit by a fall
of governments and Budapest suffered downgrades by S&P and
Moody's this week, adding weakening pressure on regional assets.
"We'll see how long global hopes will offset the negative
outlook in the region," one currency dealer in Bucharest said.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT-------------------------
Currency Latest Previous Local Local
close currency currency
change change
today in 2009
Czech crown <EURCZK=> 27.009 27.165 +0.58% -0.95%
Polish zloty <EURPLN=> 4.493 4.563 +1.56% -8.41%
Hungarian forint <EURHUF=> 299.49 303.9 +1.47% -12%
Croatian kuna <EURHRK=> 7.455 7.455 0% -1.21%
Romanian leu <EURRON=> 4.217 4.224 +0.17% -4.8%
Serbian dinar <EURRSD=> 94.288 94.682 +0.42% -5.1%
All data taken from Reuters at 1037 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)
