CEE MARKETS-Forint falls to historic low on gas leak worries as region's fx weakens

Anita Komuves
·3 min read

By Anita Komuves BUDAPEST, Sept 29 (Reuters) - The Hungarian forint fell to a record low versus the euro on Thursday, leading losses in central Europe as currencies in the region were hit by worries over gas leaks on the Nord Stream pipelines leading from Russia to Europe. The forint fell 1.22% on the day to trade at 418.60 per euro. The Polish zloty was 0.64% lower and trading at 4.8440 versus the common currency. "Even if there is enough gas in Europe for this winter, it will be very hard to fix these pipelines and that has a very negative effect on European economic prospects and gas prices," an FX trader in Budapest said. "Both the Hungarian and Polish currency are victims of this negative mood that is hitting most assets in Europe." The European Union said it suspects sabotage behind the gas leaks as it remained unclear who might be responsible for the damage. The strength of the dollar and global recession fears were also pressuring CEE currencies while liquidity was very low, a trader in Warsaw said. The National Bank of Hungary said on Tuesday that it was ending its year-long rate hike cycle and this step could leave the currency vulnerable to shifts in global sentiment, some analysts have said. On Thursday the bank raised its one-week deposit rate by 125 bps to 13% at its weekly tender, in line with expectations, after a similar increase in the base rate on Tuesday. Policymakers across central Europe are seeking to end a cycle of rate hikes running since last year. The Czech crown eased 0.13% to 24.678 per euro ahead of a central bank meeting later in the day where no change was expected, especially after August inflaton data showed the first price growth slowdown in over a year. The Czech central bank has intervened in markets since May to prevent any excessive weakening. "In the... scenario where future inflation prove that the central bank was too hasty to end its hiking cycle, we would witness sharp pressure on the exchange rate. But otherwise, the koruna is likely to trade sideways for now," Commerzbank said. CEE SNAPSH AT MARKETS OT 0957 CET CURREN CIES Latest Previo Daily Change us bid close change in 2022 EURCZK Czech 0 0 % EURHUF Hungary 00 00 % EURPLN Polish EURRON Romania EURHRK Croatia EURRSD Serbian 00 50 % % Note: calculated from 1800 daily CET change Latest Previo Daily Change us close change in 2022 .PX Prague 1125.7 1144.9 -1.68% 4 200 .BUX Budapes 37350. 37731. -1.01% -26.36 t 15 27 % .WIG20 Warsaw <.WIG20 1419.0 1435.3 -1.14% -37.40 > 6 7 % .BETI Buchare 10757. 10669. +0.82 -17.64 st 27 33 % % .SBITO Ljublja <.SBITO 968.11 966.33 +0.18 -22.89 P na P> % % .CRBEX Zagreb <.CRBEX 1912.2 1915.8 -0.19% -8.04% > 0 2 .BELEX Belgrad <.BELEX 825.03 823.55 +0.18 +0.52 15 e 15> % % .SOFIX Sofia <.SOFIX 587.80 590.37 -0.44% -7.53% > Yield Yield Spread Daily (bid) change vs change Bund in Czech spread Republi c CZ2YT= ps CZ5YT= 0 ps CZ10YT ps Poland PL2YT= ps PL5YT= ps PL10YT ps FORWARD 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interb ank Czech Hungary Poland Note: are for ask FRA prices quotes **************************************** ********************** (Additional reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague and Pawel Florkiewicz and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk in Warsaw, Editing by Angus MacSwan)