CEE MARKETS-Warsaw rebounds from worst-ever hit, crown stabilises

    By Jason Hovet
    PRAGUE, March 13 (Reuters) - The hardest-hit Central
European stock markets recovered some losses on Friday, with
Warsaw blue-chips adding more than 5% after their worst-ever
fall in the previous session, while the Czech crown stabilised
after a sharp fall.
    The crown firmed 0.4% to 26.10 to the euro after
dropping over 2% on Thursday amid market turmoil caused by
economic worries from the coronavirus outbreak. The fall was its
biggest one-day drop since the Czech central bank launched a
currency intervention regime in 2013 as part of its monetary
policy.
    Markets on Friday started slightly rolling back the pricing
in of aggressive Czech rate cuts over the next year. Last month
the Czech central bank delivered its ninth rate hike since 2017,
and Governor Jiri Rusnok said this week there was not an acute
need for easing yet.
    In Poland, the zloty inched up 0.1%. Hungary's
forint gained 0.3% to 338 to the euro by 0945 GMT.
    The Romania leu was also a touch higher, at 4.816
per euro, amid talks about a new government that can fully
tackle the coronavirus outbreak that is spreading.
    Romanian interim prime minister and Liberal Party leader
Ludovic Orban will quarantine himself after coming into contact
with one of his party's senators, who was later confirmed to
have the coronavirus, he said on Friday. Orban was meant to
attend consultations with President Klaus Iohannis later on
Friday in a new attempt to form a government.
    On equity markets, Warsaw's WIG20 index led gains, rising
5.7%, gaining back about half of its loss from Thursday alone.
The index has lost 34% in the past three weeks. 
    Budapest rose 1.24% while Prague was up 1%.
    Amid the selloff this week, Hungarian bank OTP has
acquired hundreds of thousands of its owns shares, including
200,000 on Thursday, according to bourse filings.
    Analysts and markets players are expecting volatility to
continue as investors wait for policymakers to step up their
response to the virus. Global hopes of that boosted the market
on Friday.
    "The (Hungarian central bank) is expected to inject
significant liquidity into the banking system at its next weekly
tender on Monday if needed, which could weaken the forint
slightly," Equilor brokerage said.
    While central Europe has fewer confirmed cases of the new
virus than in western neighbours, the region's governments have
taken some of the swiftest steps to contain the spread,
including curbing or controlling international travel to their
countries, closing schools, and banning large gatherings. 
    
                   CEE      SNAPSHO                           
                   MARKETS  T                          
                            CURRENC                           
                            IES                        
                            Latest   Previou  Daily    Change
                                     s                 
                            bid      close    change   in 2020
 EURCZK  Czech     <EURCZK  26.1000  26.1955   +0.37%   -2.56%
 =       crown     =>                                  
 EURHUF  Hungary   <EURHUF  338.000  339.015   +0.30%   -2.03%
 =       forint    =>             0        0           
 EURPLN  Polish    <EURPLN   4.3600   4.3645   +0.10%   -2.38%
 =       zloty     =>                                  
 EURRON  Romanian  <EURRON   4.8160   4.8250   +0.19%   -0.58%
 =       leu       =>                                  
 EURHRK  Croatian  <EURHRK   7.5800   7.6050   +0.33%   -1.78%
 =       kuna      =>                                  
 EURRSD  Serbian   <EURRSD  117.610  117.665   +0.05%   -0.03%
 =       dinar     =>             0        0           
         Note:     calcula                    1800            
         daily     ted                        CET      
         change    from                                
                                                              
                            Latest   Previou  Daily    Change
                                     s                 
                                     close    change   in 2020
 .PX     Prague              823.56  815.740   +0.96%  -26.18%
                                           0           
 .BUX    Budapest           32720.0  32317.8   +1.24%  -29.00%
                                  3        9           
 .WIG20  Warsaw    <.WIG20  1379.90  1305.73   +5.68%  -35.82%
                   >                                   
 .BETI   Buchares           7911.80  7950.02   -0.48%  -20.70%
         t                                             
 .SBITO  Ljubljan  <.SBITO   718.39   753.70   -4.68%  -22.41%
 P       a         P>                                  
 .CRBEX  Zagreb    <.CRBEX  1458.00  1429.47   +2.00%  -27.73%
                   >                                   
 .BELEX  Belgrade  <.BELEX   724.46   726.17   -0.24%   -9.63%
 15                15>                                 
 .SOFIX  Sofia     <.SOFIX   434.83   457.61   -4.98%  -23.46%
                   >                                   
                                                              
                            Yield    Yield    Spread   Daily
                            (bid)    change   vs Bund  change
                                                       in
         Czech                                         spread
         Republic                                      
 CZ2YT=    2-year  <CZ2YT=   1.6540   0.0350   +258bp    +2bps
 RR                RR>                              s  
 CZ5YT=    5-year  <CZ5YT=   1.5770   0.1050   +241bp    +5bps
 RR                RR>                              s  
 CZ10YT            <CZ10YT   1.1040   0.0000   +174bp   -10bps
 =RR     10-year   =RR>                             s  
         Poland                                               
 PL2YT=    2-year  <PL2YT=   1.4240   0.0560   +235bp    +4bps
 RR                RR>                              s  
 PL5YT=    5-year  <PL5YT=   1.8010   0.0590   +263bp    +0bps
 RR                RR>                              s  
 PL10YT            <PL10YT   1.8330   0.0000   +247bp   -10bps
 =RR     10-year   =RR>                             s  
                   FORWARD                                    
                            3x6      6x9      9x12     3M
                                                       interba
                                                       nk
         Czech     <CZKFRA     1.83     1.40     1.16     2.33
         Rep       ><PRIBO                             
                   R=>                                 
         Hungary   <HUFFRA     0.68     0.76     0.87     0.66
                   ><BUBOR                             
                   =>                                  
         Poland    <PLNFRA     1.38     1.13     1.02     1.69
                   ><WIBOR                             
                   =>                                  
         Note: FRA quotes                                     
         are for ask                                   
         prices                                        
         ********************************************         
         ******************                            
                                                              
 
 (Reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague, Krisztina Than in Budapest
and Alan Charlish in Warsaw)
  
 
 

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