CEE MARKETS-Currencies on weaker footing as volatility persists, debt auctions eyed

Powszechna Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Polski SA

12/03/2026 08:34

By Krisztina Than

BUDAPEST, March 12 (Reuters) - Central Europe's currencies weakened further amid jittery sentiment and risk aversion on global markets on Thursday, with the Hungarian forint and the Polish zloty easing close to 0.2% in early trade.

Volatile oil prices and fears of escalation in the war in the Middle East have kept market pressure high over the past days, which caused debt managers in central Europe to scale back or cancel planned debt auctions this week.

Hungary will hold an auction of 12-month treasury bills and 2041/A bonds later on Thursday HUISSUE, with the offered amount cut back by the government debt management agency.

"Risk sentiment on the credit, rates and equity markets continues to closely follow movements on the oil market and is therefore likely to start the day on a negative note. We expect the markets to become increasingly nervous and remain volatile until a solution emerges," Raiffeisen said in a note.

In central Europe, the forint EURHUF= has been especially exposed to the souring of investor sentiment, ahead of a Hungarian parliamentary election due on April 12 where the nationalist ruling party trails the opposition in polls.

FORINT UNDER PRESSURE

The forint dropped to around 400 per euro on Monday, hitting that psychological level for the first time since August last year, but recovered some of those losses and traded at 387.25 to the euro at 0809 GMT on Thursday.

Hungary's investment-grade credit rating could be at risk if the surge in energy prices since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran accelerated and persisted, a top analyst at rating agency S&P told Reuters on Wednesday, again highlighting fiscal risks.

On Tuesday, Hungary's central bank said it would provide foreign currency liquidity from its international reserves to cover higher foreign currency demand for energy imports, which took some pressure off the currency.

The Czech crown EURCZK= was steady on Thursday at 24.397 to the euro and the Polish zloty EURPLN= lost 0.16% to 4.257 per euro.

"If there are no positive changes in the geopolitical environment on Thursday, dollar appreciation and risk aversion could intensify," Polish bank PKO BP said in a note.

"In such an environment, the zloty would likely come under pressure again, and the EUR/PLN and USD/PLN rates could move closer to the upper limits of the local sideways trends we indicate (4.24–4.30 for EUR/PLN and 3.65–3.74 for USD/PLN)."

CEE MARKETS SNAPSHOT AT 0906 CET
CURRENCIES
Latest trade
Previous close
Daily change
Change in 2026
Czech crown
EURCZK=
24.3970
24.3910
-0.02%
-0.94%
Hungary forint
EURHUF=
387.2500
386.7000
-0.14%
-0.74%
Polish zloty
EURPLN=
4.2570
4.2500
-0.16%
-0.97%
Romanian leu
EURRON=
5.0923
5.0920
-0.01%
+0.04%
Serbian dinar
EURRSD=
117.3500
117.4300
+0.07%
-0.04%
Note: daily change calculated from 1800 CET
STOCKS
Latest
Previous close
Daily change
Change in 2026
Prague
.PX
2582.14
2589.8400
-0.30%
-3.85%
Budapest
.BUX
122550.98
122583.12
-0.03%
+10.37%
Warsaw
.WIG20
3308.85
3312.71
-0.12%
+3.92%
Bucharest
.BETI
28246.42
28246.42
+0.00%
+15.58%
BONDS
Yield (bid)
Yield change
Spread vs Bund
Daily change in spread
Czech Rep 2-year
CZ2YT=RR
3.9630
0.0410
+157bps
+4bps
Czech Rep 5-year
CZ5YT=RR
4.3390
0.0610
+174bps
+6bps
Czech Rep 10-year
CZ10YT=RR
4.8380
0.0640
+190bps
+6bps
Poland 2-year
PL2YT=RR
4.0770
0.0390
+169bps
+4bps
Poland 5-year
PL5YT=RR
4.8380
0.0090
+224bps
+1bps
Poland 10-year
PL10YT=RR
5.5100
0.0380
+257bps
+3bps
FORWARD RATE AGREEMENTS
3x6
6x9
9x12
3M interbank
Czech Rep
CZKFRA, PRIBOR=
3.65
3.76
3.89
3.54
Poland
PLNFRA, WIBOR=
3.87
3.91
3.97
3.80
Note: FRA quotes are for ask prices

 (Reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague, Pawel Florkiewicz in Warsaw, Krisztina Than in Budapest; Editing by)

 ((breaking-news-cee@thomsonreuters.com))