By Alan Charlish
WARSAW, July 15 (Reuters) - Central European stocks rose and some currencies firmed on Wednesday, as hopes for a potential COVID-19 vaccine outweighed concerns over increased U.S.-China tensions.
The experimental vaccine from U.S. firm Moderna Inc MRNA.O showed promise in an ongoing early-stage study, giving global investor sentiment a boost.
"News came from the United States that there were some good tests with a vaccine... the reaction on the stock market in Asia, in the futures, in the FX was quite clear and now the investors are quite upbeat on that," said Peter Virovacz, senior economist at ING in Hungary.
"This means there is some light at the end of the tunnel so that is the main reason for the strengthening of the currencies."
At 0914 GMT the Hungarian forint EURHUF= was 0.44% stronger against the euro at 353.90 and the Czech crown EURCZK= was 0.23% stronger at 26.63.
The Polish zloty EURPLN= was little changed at 4.4738 after having firmed slightly earlier in the session and the Romanian leu EURRON= was flat at 4.8440
Stocks were higher across the board, tracking global peers on hopes of a vaccine. Poland's WIG 20 .WIG20 index was the biggest gainer, rising 0.95%.
The top performer was CD Projekt CDR.WA which rose over 6% after chief executive Adam Kicinski told Parkiet daily he was not concerned about rival Ubisoft UBIP.PA launching "Assasin's Creed Valhalla" two days before the planned release of the company's flagship "Cyberpunk 2077" game.
"I think this a rebound from the over-reacted sell-off recently," said a Warsaw-based equity trader, adding that the Parkiet article was behind CD Projekt's gains.
The Czech Finance Ministry will hold a rare auction of euro-denominated bonds for the domestic market, offering up to 300 million euros of new 7-year zero-coupon paper. CNB08
"Since otherwise comparable papers of regional peers are traded with negative yields, it is entirely possible MinFin could borrow in EUR at rates close to or below zero," Komercni Banka trader Marek Lesko said in a client note.
Czech yields have dropped sharply since a spike at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March. The yield on 7-year crown-denominated bonds CZ7YT=RR was bid at 0.75% on Wednesday morning, down more than 1 percentage point since hitting its peak in March.
Benchmark Polish ten-year yields PL10YT=RR were down 1 basis point at 1.357.
"In the coming days on the domestic debt market we can expect a continuation of the sideways trend and low volatility," PKO BP analysts wrote in a note.
CEE MARKETS
SNAPSHOT
AT 1114 CET
CURRENCIES
Latest
Previous
Daily
Change
bid
close
change
in 2020
EURCZK=
Czech crown
EURCZK=
26.6300
26.6910
+0.23%
-4.50%
EURHUF=
Hungary forint
EURHUF=
353.9000
355.4450
+0.44%
-6.43%
EURPLN=
Polish zloty
EURPLN=
4.4738
4.4735
-0.01%
-4.86%
EURRON=
Romanian leu
EURRON=
4.8440
4.8435
-0.01%
-1.15%
EURHRK=
Croatian kuna
EURHRK=
7.5325
7.5303
-0.03%
-1.16%
EURRSD=
Serbian dinar
EURRSD=
117.5300
117.5850
+0.05%
+0.03%
Note: daily change
calculated from
1800 CET
STOCKS
Latest
Previous
Daily
Change
close
change
in 2020
.PX
Prague
.PX
943.16
937.8400
+0.57%
-15.46%
.BUX
Budapest
.BUX
35126.89
35091.72
+0.10%
-23.77%
.WIG20
Warsaw
.WIG20
1788.46
1771.70
+0.95%
-16.82%
.BETI
Bucharest
.BETI
8465.31
8416.87
+0.58%
-15.15%
.SBITOP
Ljubljana
.SBITOP
868.47
867.83
+0.07%
-6.20%
.CRBEX
Zagreb
.CRBEX
1612.02
1606.64
+0.33%
-20.10%
.BELEX15
Belgrade
.BELEX15
654.27
654.10
+0.03%
-18.39%
.SOFIX
Sofia
.SOFIX
442.92
441.32
+0.36%
-22.04%
BONDS
Yield
Yield
Spread
Daily
(bid)
change
vs Bund
change in
Czech Republic
spread
CZ2YT=RR
2-year
CZ2YT=RR
0.1200
-0.0160
+079bps
-1bps
CZ5YT=RR
5-year
CZ5YT=RR
0.3530
-0.0570
+101bps
-4bps
CZ10YT=RR
10-year
CZ10YT=RR
0.8790
0.0140
+134bps
+3bps
Poland
PL2YT=RR
2-year
PL2YT=RR
0.1330
0.0010
+080bps
+1bps
PL5YT=RR
5-year
PL5YT=RR
0.7850
-0.0220
+144bps
-1bps
PL10YT=RR
10-year
PL10YT=RR
1.3570
-0.0120
+182bps
+1bps
FRA
3x6
6x9
9x12
3M interbank
Czech Rep
CZKFRAPRIBOR=
0.32
0.32
0.35
0.34
Hungary
HUFFRABUBOR=
0.67
0.66
0.65
0.70
Poland
PLNFRAWIBOR=
0.20
0.21
0.22
0.25
Note: FRA quotes are for ask prices
**************************************************************
(Reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw, Jason Hovet in Prague, Anita Komuves in Budapest; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
((alan.charlish@thomsonreuters.com; +48 22 104 25 27 ;))
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.