(Updates with cenbank decision, trader comments)
By Jason Hovet and Anita Komuves
PRAGUE/BUDAPEST, April 27 (Reuters) - The Hungarian forint
eased slightly on Tuesday after the National Bank of Hungary
(NBH) left interest rates unchanged, as expected, and extended
its quantitative easing programme.
The forint was still 0.24% up on the day, trading
at 362.93 to the euro, outperforming its regional peers after a
recent slide.
The rate decision did not significantly move the forint as
it was already anticipated and priced in, according to an FX
trader in Budapest.
The Hungarian currency has roller-coastered this year,
dropping nearly 2% at one point in the past two weeks.
Government bond yields were not immediately moved by the
central bank's announcement, a fixed-income trader said.
"The QE programme reached 1.9 trillion forints last week, so
the market was sure that they would extend it, which was in line
with the bank's communication as well," he said.
The NBH extended its QE programme, saying it would next
review the scheme once the stock of its bond purchases rises by
another 1 trillion forints ($3.33 billion) to 3 trillion
forints.
Other central European currencies eased as the U.S. dollar
hovered above its recent lows and risk appetite slackened ahead
of a Federal Reserve policy decision this week.
The Czech crown lost steam, dropping 0.35% to
25.940 to the euro.
Markets expect the Czech central bank, which meets next
week, could begin hiking interest rates later this year although
the timing is still uncertain.
Board member Vojtech Benda told Bloomberg news agency the
bank was not likely to raise rates this year as much as assumed
in its staff forecasts.
The Polish zloty dipped 0.17% while Romania's leu
was flat.
Warsaw markets were waiting for a Thursday ruling from the
Court of Justice of the European Union over questions concerning
claims banks may be able to make from clients if foreign
currency mortgage contracts are cancelled.
The issue, weighing on the zloty, could result in major
losses for the banking sector, coming after thousands of Polish
borrowers took out Swiss franc loans more than a decade ago.
Warsaw's WIG20 index dropped 0.22% on Tuesday.
CEE SNAPSHO AT
MARKETS T 1549 CET
CURRENC
IES
Latest Previous Daily Change
bid close change in 2021
EURCZK= Czech <EURCZK= 25.9400 25.8480 -0.35% +1.11%
crown >
EURHUF= Hungary <EURHUF= 362.930 363.8000 +0.24 -0.06%
forint > 0 %
EURPLN= Polish <EURPLN= 4.5664 4.5587 -0.17% -0.16%
zloty >
EURRON= Romania <EURRON= 4.9260 4.9248 -0.02% -1.24%
n leu >
EURHRK= Croatia <EURHRK= 7.5550 7.5635 +0.11 -0.10%
n kuna > %
EURRSD= Serbian <EURRSD= 117.550 117.6050 +0.05 +0.02%
dinar > 0 %
Note: calculated from 1800
daily CET
change Latest Previous Daily Change
close change in 2021
.PX Prague 1097.40 1095.200 +0.20 +6.84%
0 %
.BUX Budapes 43434.5 43281.61 +0.35 +3.15%
t 3 %
.WIG20 Warsaw 2000.61 2005.10 -0.22% +0.84%
.BETI Buchare 11298.8 11213.75 +0.76 +15.23
st 3 % %
.SBITOP Ljublja <.SBITOP 1060.52 1063.41 -0.27% +17.72
na > %
.CRBEX Zagreb 1899.59 1895.34 +0.22 +9.22%
%
.BELEX1 Belgrad <.BELEX1 770.28 770.34 -0.01% +2.89%
5 e 5>
.SOFIX Sofia 521.65 519.88 +0.34 +16.56
% %
Yield Yield Spread Daily
(bid) change vs change
Bund in
Czech spread
Republi
c
CZ2YT=R <CZ2YT=R 0.6360 0.0130 +133b +2bps
R 2-year R> ps
CZ5YT=R <CZ5YT=R 1.3660 -0.0790 +197b -8bps
R 5-year R> ps
CZ10YT= <CZ10YT= 1.7920 -0.0060 +205b -1bps
RR 10-year RR> ps
Poland
PL2YT=R <PL2YT=R 0.1030 0.0130 +079b +2bps
R 2-year R> ps
PL5YT=R <PL5YT=R 0.8120 -0.0410 +141b -4bps
R 5-year R> ps
PL10YT= <PL10YT= 1.5410 -0.0150 +179b -2bps
RR 10-year RR> ps
FORWARD
3x6 6x9 9x12 3M
interba
nk
Czech 0.45 0.70 0.97 0.36
Rep <PRIBOR=
>
Hungary 0.95 1.12 1.27 0.79
Poland 0.24 0.27 0.39 0.21
Note: are for ask
FRA prices
quotes
********************************************
****************** (Reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague, Anita Komuves in Budapest
and Alan Charlish in Warsaw; editing by Mark Heinrich)
