By Anita Komuves
BUDAPEST, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Central European stock indexes
slipped on Friday as new cases of coronavirus infections in
China and a strengthening U.S. dollar hit sentiment.
Currencies in the region were mostly steady.
The forint, however, regained some ground and
interbank rates have stabilized after a sharp rise earlier this
week.
The forint was trading at 337.48 to the euro at 1022 GMT, up
0.2% while the Czech crown gained 0.15% and the Polish
zloty was up by 0.1%.
The Hungarian currency has been on a rollercoaster this
week: it strengthened to 334 to the euro on Wednesday but eroded
those gains quickly after the central bank indicated to local
banks it was uneasy with the pace of increases in interbank
rates, two market sources told Reuters.
"Bubor rates are slowly coming down from their previous
highs. There had been a few banks whose quotes were extremely
high in the past few days, but they have also returned to the
average," a dealer in Budapest said.
"It seems that the words of the central bank set things
straight in people's minds."
A Reuters poll of analysts showed that Hungary's central
bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged when it meets
next Tuesday. Investors will be watching its comments about
inflation which at 4.7% ran above expectations in January.
Central banks in the region are reacting to
higher-than-expected inflation data. While the Czech central
bank reacted with a surprise rate hike on Feb. 6, the Hungarian
and Polish central banks have said they are willing to act if
needed.
Polish central bank head Adam Glapinski doesn't see the need
to raise interest rates now despite higher inflation, but the
bank would be ready to act if the price threat persisted in the
long term, he said in an article in Rzeczpospolita daily on
Friday.
Poland's central bank targets inflation of 2.5% plus or
minus one percentage point. January CPI came in at 4.4%
year-on-year. Poland's benchmark interest rate has remained at a
historic low of 1.5% since 2015.
Regional stock market indexes fell or moved sideways, in
tandem with the main European indexes which fell in the morning
on renewed fears about the economic impact of the coronavirus
after China reported an uptick in the number of cases.
The only outlier was Budapest where shares were up
0.5%.
"There is a global trend of turning away from emerging
markets because of the coronavirus fears. Markets are expecting
the effects to be worse in Europe than in the United States," a
dealer in Budapest said.
Hungarian energy company MOL was up 2.7% after it
reported higher-than-expected EBITDA for the fourth quarter and
raised its guidance for this year.
CEE SNAPSHO AT
MARKETS T 1122
CET
CURRENC
IES
Latest Previou Daily Change
s
bid close change in 2020
EURCZK Czech <EURCZK 25.0500 25.0880 +0.15% +1.52%
= crown =>
EURHUF Hungary <EURHUF 337.480 338.170 +0.20% -1.88%
= forint => 0 0
EURPLN Polish <EURPLN 4.2775 4.2818 +0.10% -0.49%
= zloty =>
EURRON Romanian <EURRON 4.8022 4.7930 -0.19% -0.29%
= leu =>
EURHRK Croatian <EURHRK 7.4450 7.4493 +0.06% +0.01%
= kuna =>
EURRSD Serbian <EURRSD 117.530 117.560 +0.03% +0.03%
= dinar => 0 0
Note: calculated from 1800
daily CET
change
Latest Previou Daily Change
s
close change in 2020
.PX Prague 1091.68 1097.16 -0.50% -2.15%
00
.BUX Budapest 46017.1 45792.0 +0.49% -0.14%
1 7
.WIG20 Warsaw <.WIG20 2097.94 2099.88 -0.09% -2.43%
>
.BETI Buchares 10157.1 10144.1 +0.13% +1.80%
t 4 6
.SBITO Ljubljan <.SBITO 982.02 981.75 +0.03% +6.07%
P a P>
.CRBEX Zagreb <.CRBEX 2022.50 2020.95 +0.08% +0.25%
>
.BELEX Belgrade <.BELEX 808.28 808.28 +0.00% +0.82%
15 15>
.SOFIX Sofia <.SOFIX 551.31 548.03 +0.60% -2.96%
>
Yield Yield Spread Daily
(bid) change vs Bund change
in
Czech spread
Republic
CZ2YT= 2-year <CZ2YT= 2.0920 0.2850 +273bp +29bps
RR RR> s
CZ5YT= 5-year <CZ5YT= 1.5770 -0.1050 +219bp -12bps
RR RR> s
CZ10YT <CZ10YT 1.5670 0.0000 +201bp +0bps
=RR 10-year =RR> s
Poland
PL2YT= 2-year <PL2YT= 1.5620 -0.0050 +220bp +0bps
RR RR> s
PL5YT= 5-year <PL5YT= 1.7550 -0.0240 +237bp -4bps
RR RR> s
PL10YT <PL10YT 2.0840 -0.0320 +253bp -3bps
=RR 10-year =RR> s
FORWARD
3x6 6x9 9x12 3M
interba
nk
Czech <CZKFRA 2.39 2.32 2.26 2.39
Rep ><PRIBO
R=>
Hungary <HUFFRA 0.76 0.90 1.02 0.60
><BUBOR
=>
Poland <PLNFRA 1.73 1.72 1.73 1.71
><WIBOR
=>
Note: are for ask
FRA prices
quotes
(Reporting by Anita Komuves, additional reporting by Agnieszka
Barteczko, editing by Susan Fenton)
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