CEE MARKETS-FX slides as markets eye dollar, Orban speech

By Alan Charlish WARSAW, March 9 (Reuters) - Central European currencies fell on Thursday, as the dollar firmed on hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and investors eyed a speech by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on the economy. Powell's message in testimony to Congress that interest rates would have to go higher and possibly faster to tame inflation has boosted the dollar, hurting riskier emerging market currencies which are less attractive to investors when the greenback is strong. The biggest decliner in the region was the Hungarian forint , which was 0.21% weaker against the euro at 379.20. Zoltan Varga, an economist at brokerage Equilor, said that in addition to the strong dollar uncertainty surrounding Orban's speech was a factor affecting the forint. "On these occasions (there can be) announcements about new government programmes - anything can happen in Hungary today," he said. In Poland, the zloty was little changed at 4.6815 as markets looked ahead to a press conference with Central Bank Governor Adam Glapinski scheduled for 1400 GMT. On Wednesday the National Bank of Poland (NBP) left its main interest rate unchanged at 6.75% and published new inflation forecasts which were a touch lower than its last set of forecasts, reinforcing market expectations that rates will remain stable until the end of the year. Economists do not expect Glapinski to say anything to change that outlook. "It seems... Glapinski will not bring any new elements in his statement that could have a significant impact on the valuation of our currency," PKO BP said in a note. The Czech crown was 0.19% weaker at 23.62. Stocks were lower across the region, with the main indices in Prague, Warsaw and Budapest falling 0.4-1.2% as investors fretted about the prospect of rates staying higher for longer.

CEE SNAPSHO AT

MARKETS T 1105

CET

CURRENC

IES

Latest Previou Daily Change s

bid close change in 2023 EURCZK Czech <EURCZK 23.6200 23.5750 -0.19% +2.28% = crown =>
EURHUF Hungary <EURHUF 379.200 378.400 -0.21% +5.34% = forint => 0 0
EURPLN Polish <EURPLN 4.6815 4.6805 -0.02% +0.17% = zloty =>
EURRON Romanian <EURRON 4.9150 4.9100 -0.10% +0.56% = leu =>
EURHRK Croatian <EURHRK 7.5330 7.5365 +0.05% +0.05% = kuna =>
EURRSD Serbian <EURRSD 117.230 117.330 +0.09% +0.06% = dinar => 0 0

Note: calculated from 1800

daily CET

change

Latest Previou Daily Change s

close change in 2023 .PX Prague 1402.77 1409.03 -0.44% +16.73 00 % .BUX Budapest 42690.4 43161.4 -1.09% -2.52% 0 3
.WIG20 Warsaw <.WIG20 1838.92 1860.83 -1.18% +2.62% >
.BETI Buchares 12476.2 12411.1 +0.53% +6.97% t 9 0
.SBITO Ljubljan <.SBITO 1197.11 1194.82 +0.19% +14.14 P a P> % .BELEX Belgrade <.BELEX 887.70 889.17 -0.17% +7.65% 15 15>
.SOFIX Sofia <.SOFIX 630.14 631.96 -0.29% +4.76% >

Yield Yield Spread Daily (bid) change vs Bund change in Czech spread Republic
CZ2YT= 2-year <CZ2YT= 5.8190 -0.1740 +247bp -19bps RR RR> s
CZ5YT= 5-year <CZ5YT= 5.2800 0.0270 +242bp -1bps RR RR> s
CZ10YT <CZ10YT 4.9420 0.0020 +225bp -5bps =RR 10-year =RR> s

Poland
PL2YT= 2-year <PL2YT= 6.2230 -0.0460 +287bp -6bps RR RR> s
PL5YT= 5-year <PL5YT= 6.2900 0.0360 +343bp +0bps RR RR> s
PL10YT <PL10YT 6.3040 0.0380 +361bp -1bps =RR 10-year =RR> s

FORWARD

3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interba nk Czech <CZKFRA 7.21 7.05 6.56 7.20 Rep ><PRIBO

R=>

Hungary <HUFFRA 14.99 13.33 12.21 16.30 ><BUBOR

=>

Poland <PLNFRA 6.96 6.92 6.58 6.93 ><WIBOR

=>

Note: are for ask

FRA prices

quotes

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(Reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw, Jason Hovet in Prague, Krisztina Than in Budapest; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

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