CEE MARKETS-Currencies stable, stocks rise as stimulus hopes lift sentiment
By Anita Komuves
BUDAPEST, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Central European currencies held stable and stock indices gained on Wednesday as global markets looked forward to further stimulus measures in the United States and better-than-expected European earnings reports lifted investor sentiment.
Budapest's stock index .BUX gained 1% and Prague's equities .PX rose 0.53%. Warsaw's assets .WIG20 led gains in the region, rising 1.15% by 0845 GMT.
Poland's two biggest banks, PKO BP PKO.WA and Bank Pekao PEO.WA, both reported better-than-expected second-quarter results. Pekao's shares were up 2.7% and PKO BP gained 0.76% by 0851 GMT.
Regional currencies were stable. The Czech crown EURCZK= gained 0.16% and was trading at 26.130 versus the euro before the central bank's rate meeting on Thursday. The bank is likely to keep interest rates on hold, according to a Reuters poll.
A majority of analysts polled by Reuters also expect Romania's central bank to keep its benchmark interest rate on hold at 1.75% at its next meeting, in August.
Since the bank cancelled its meeting schedule in March, it hasn't said when it will meet.
The Romanian leu EURRON= was unchanged on Wednesday. The Hungarian forint EURHUF= held steady at 346.20 per euro. The Polish zloty EURPLN= eased 0.07%, to 4.399 versus the common currency.
Yields on the longest-dated Hungarian government bonds have come down substantially, by around 40 basis points, since the central bank last month resumed its quantitative-easing programme, which was begun in early May and suspended after a few weeks.
The Hungarian central bank bought $34.09 million worth of 15-year and 20-year government bonds from local banks on Tuesday. Yields edged higher at that auction, which one trader said was a normal correction after the falls since the July rate meeting.
"There was a significant drop in yields on the two longest-dated bonds (15-year and 20-year) after the announcement of the central bank," an FI trader in Budapest said.
"Yields on 10-year bonds are also down, but that was also affected by international trends, by 10-year yields dropping in the U.S. and Germany."
According to the Eikon page of the Hungarian Debt Management Agency HUBONDFIX, the yield on the 20-year bond was 2.79% and 2.64% on the 15-year bond, each more than 40 basis points lower than before the announcement of the National Bank of Hungary in July.
CEE MARKETS
SNAPSHOT
AT 1045 CET
CURRENCIES
Latest
Previous
Daily
Change
bid
close
change
in 2020
EURCZK=
Czech crown
EURCZK=
26.1300
26.1730
+0.16%
-2.67%
EURHUF=
Hungary forint
EURHUF=
346.2000
346.2500
+0.01%
-4.35%
EURPLN=
Polish zloty
EURPLN=
4.3996
4.3965
-0.07%
-3.25%
EURRON=
Romanian leu
EURRON=
4.8335
4.8335
+0.00%
-0.94%
EURHRK=
Croatian kuna
EURHRK=
7.4657
7.4683
+0.03%
-0.27%
EURRSD=
Serbian dinar
EURRSD=
117.5100
117.5600
+0.04%
+0.05%
Note: daily change
calculated from
1800 CET
Latest
Previous
Daily
Change
close
change
in 2020
.PX
Prague
.PX
902.55
897.7700
+0.53%
-19.10%
.BUX
Budapest
.BUX
34748.07
34407.20
+0.99%
-24.60%
.WIG20
Warsaw
.WIG20
1832.24
1811.46
+1.15%
-14.78%
.BETI
Bucharest
.BETI
8511.10
8493.41
+0.21%
-14.70%
.SBITOP
Ljubljana
.SBITOP
843.19
850.22
-0.83%
-8.93%
.CRBEX
Zagreb
.CRBEX
1581.13
1581.13
+0.00%
-21.63%
.BELEX15
Belgrade
.BELEX15
657.79
664.62
-1.03%
-17.95%
.SOFIX
Sofia
.SOFIX
434.55
436.91
-0.54%
-23.51%
Yield
Yield
Spread
Daily
(bid)
change
vs Bund
change in
Czech Republic
spread
CZ2YT=RR
2-year
CZ2YT=RR
0.0640
0.0080
+077bps
+1bps
CZ5YT=RR
5-year
CZ5YT=RR
0.3590
-0.0180
+108bps
-2bps
CZ10YT=RR
10-year
CZ10YT=RR
0.8250
0.0180
+137bps
+1bps
Poland
PL2YT=RR
2-year
PL2YT=RR
0.1250
-0.0030
+083bps
+0bps
PL5YT=RR
5-year
PL5YT=RR
0.6580
-0.0060
+138bps
-1bps
PL10YT=RR
10-year
PL10YT=RR
1.2610
0.0020
+180bps
-1bps
FORWARD
3x6
6x9
9x12
3M interbank
Czech Rep
CZKFRAPRIBOR=
0.33
0.33
0.36
0.34
Hungary
HUFFRABUBOR=
0.62
0.60
0.60
0.60
Poland
PLNFRAWIBOR=
0.19
0.18
0.17
0.23
Note: FRA quotes
are for ask prices
**************************************************************
(Additional reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw and Luiza Ilie in Bucharest)
((komuves.anita@thomsonreuters.com (+36 70 795 8815))
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.