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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