CEE MARKETS-Czech crown heads for biggest monthly gain since 2008

Reuters
·3 min read

WARSAW, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The Czech crown and Polish zloty were on track for their best month in years on Monday, as central European currencies gained amid increased optimism about a vaccine-driven economic recovery next year. The crown and zloty were heading for their biggest monthly gains since 2008 and 2012 respectively, at the end of a month when news regarding coronavirus vaccines and a U.S. presidential election results seen by many economists as favourable for the global economy encouraged investors to return to riskier assets. "The Czech crown, as well as other regional currencies, benefited from improvement in global sentiment in past weeks," said Radomir Jac, chief economist at Generali Investments CEE in Prague. "The Czech crown outperformed against the Hungarian forint and Polish zloty, as it weakened quite a lot since late August, so there was a room for a recovery, as the crown was undervalued." At 1012, GMT the crown was up 0.15% against the euro at 26.16. The zloty gained 0.10% to trade at 4.4781. The Hungarian forint strengthened 0.47% to 359.95. In Romania, where markets were closed for a holiday, the leu was little changed at 4.8725. Stocks we mainly down, with the biggest losses on Poland's WIG 20 index, which was down 1.45%. "We are seeing a little profit-taking," said Bartosz Kulesza, an analyst at Pekao in Warsaw, the continuation of a process that started last week after a strong performance in November. Czech and Polish 10-year yields were both down around 1 basis point at 1.265% 1.231% respectively. In Poland, the finance ministry was due to announce debt supply for December at 1400 GMT. "The finance ministry will probably confirm its intention to issue bonds at one switching auction on Dec. 11," PKO BP analysts wrote in a note. "Low supply of securities will support bond prices until the end of the year." CEE SNAPSHO AT MARKETS T 1112 CET CURRENC IES Latest Previou Daily Change s bid close change in 2020 EURCZK Czech <EURCZK 26.1600 26.1980 +0.15% -2.78% = crown => EURHUF Hungary <EURHUF 359.950 361.650 +0.47% -8.00% = forint => 0 0 EURPLN Polish <EURPLN 4.4781 4.4826 +0.10% -4.95% = zloty => EURRON Romanian <EURRON 4.8725 4.8753 +0.06% -1.73% = leu => EURHRK Croatian <EURHRK 7.5530 7.5553 +0.03% -1.42% = kuna => EURRSD Serbian <EURRSD 117.540 117.580 +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 969.56 968.320 +0.13% -13.09% 0 .BUX Budapest 38949.6 39308.9 -0.91% -15.48% 3 0 .WIG20 Warsaw <.WIG20 1825.91 1852.69 -1.45% -15.08% > .BETI Buchares 9286.11 9286.11 +0.00% -6.93% t .SBITO Ljubljan <.SBITO 892.24 885.46 +0.77% -3.63% P a P> .CRBEX Zagreb <.CRBEX 1691.50 1686.79 +0.28% -16.16% > .BELEX Belgrade <.BELEX 714.20 715.55 -0.19% -10.91% 15 15> .SOFIX Sofia <.SOFIX 425.79 425.70 +0.02% -25.06% > Yield Yield Spread Daily (bid) change vs Bund change in Czech spread Republic CZ2YT= 2-year <CZ2YT= 0.1470 0.0580 +090bp +6bps RR RR> s CZ5YT= 5-year <CZ5YT= 0.7980 0.0030 +156bp +0bps RR RR> s CZ10YT <CZ10YT 1.2650 -0.0140 +185bp -2bps =RR 10-year =RR> s Poland PL2YT= 2-year <PL2YT= 0.0360 -0.0320 +079bp -3bps RR RR> s PL5YT= 5-year <PL5YT= 0.4440 -0.0590 +121bp -6bps RR RR> s PL10YT <PL10YT 1.2310 -0.0090 +181bp -1bps =RR 10-year =RR> s FORWARD 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interba nk Czech <CZKFRA 0.38 0.44 0.53 0.35 Rep ><PRIBO R=> Hungary <HUFFRA 0.71 0.72 0.73 0.76 ><BUBOR => Poland <PLNFRA 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.22 ><WIBOR => Note: are for ask FRA prices quotes ******************************************** ****************** (Reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw and Jason Hovet in Prague; editing by Larry King)