CEE MARKETS-Forint at 2024 low on lending rate plans, crown off recent lows
23/01/2024 10:02
By Boldizsar Gyori
BUDAPEST, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Hungary's forint retreated
to its weakest level of 2024 on Tuesday, sliding more as
investors sold shares in top Hungarian lender OTP Bank OTPB.BU
on a media report of government reforms to local borrowing
rates.
OTP shares fell nearly 3% in morning trade after financial
news website portfolio.hu reported citing unnamed sources that
Hungary's government was considering applying Treasury bill
yields as the benchmark lending rate for retail loans.
That followed a proposal by Economy Ministry officials, who
on Monday floated the idea of using Treasury bill yields as the
benchmark lending rate for corporate loans to cut borrowing
costs and revive the economy from last year's recession.
The forint EURHUF= fell to as low as 384.4 to the euro and
was down 0.2% at 384.25 at 0950 GMT. It has lost almost 1.8%
since Jan. 8, when it started slipping.
The forint has also come under pressure from chances of more
aggressive policy easing by Hungary's central bank.
"Investors' expectations of a bigger rate cut combined with
the selling wave of OTP shares negatively influenced the
forint," Equilor analyst Zoltan Arokszallasi said, citing
Tuesday's media report as the reason behind falls in OTP shares.
In Poland, the zloty EURPLN= was also down, losing 0.2% to
4.37 per euro, but analysts expected it to stabilise around that
level.
The Czech crown EURCZK= , meanwhile, hovered off of
20-month lows beyond 24.80 that it hit last week.
Markets have also anticipated stronger interest rate cuts
from the Czech National Bank, pushing market rates lower.
Investors will focus on central banker comments in the run-up to
their next policy meeting in February, along with a European
Central Bank sitting this week where more clues on the start of
euro zone rate cuts could come.
CEE SNAPSH AT
MARKETS OT 1050
CET
CURREN
CIES
Latest Previo Daily Change
us
bid close change in
2024
EURCZK Czech 0 0 %
EURHUF Hungary 00 00
EURPLN Polish
EURRON Romania %
EURRSD Serbian 00 00 % %
Note: calcula 1800
daily ted CET
change from
Latest Previo Daily Change
us
close change in
2024
.PX Prague .PX 1441.6 1441.5 +0.01 +1.96
7 900 % %
.BUX Budapes .BUX 63801. 64709. -1.40% +5.25
t 06 34 %
.WIG20 Warsaw <.WIG20 2183.9 2205.0 -0.96% -6.79%
> 6 3
.BETI Buchare .BETI 15323. 15492. -1.09% -0.31%
st 24 47
Spread Daily
vs change
Bund in
Czech spread
Republi
c
CZ2YT= ps s
CZ5YT= 0 ps
CZ10YT ps
Poland
PL2YT= 0 ps
PL5YT= 0 ps
PL10YT ps
FORWARD
3x6 6x9 9x12 3M
interb
ank
Czech
Hungary
Poland
Note: are for ask
FRA prices
quotes
****************************************
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(Reporting Boldizsar Gyori in Budapest, Pawel Florkiewicz in
Warsaw, and Jason Hovet in Prague, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
((boldizsar.gyori@thomsonreuters.com))
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