CEE MARKETS-Currencies, stocks rebound as markets take a breather ahead of Fed

By Krisztina Than BUDAPEST, March 21 (Reuters) - Central European currencies firmed and stocks rebounded on Tuesday as global sentiment improved after the rescue of troubled lender Credit Suisse by its Swiss rival UBS , with shares in Hungary's OTP jumping 3.1% in early trade. Hungary's forint , which hit an 11-week low on Monday past 400 to the euro, was trading at 392 to the euro, rising 1.07% and outperforming its peers. "The forint's exchange rate reversed (its retreat) above the 200-day moving average ... with an improvement in international sentiment coming at the best possible time," brokerage Equilor said in a note. "Today's trading also looks exciting with volatility remaining above average." The Hungarian central bank holds a tender for short-term discount bills on Tuesday, where it is offering 1 trillion forints worth of bills as part of its efforts to drain forint liquidity from the market. It is also holding FX swap tenders offering euro liquidity to banks. The bank has maintained an 18% quick deposit rate since last October, when the forint hit record lows beyond 434 to the euro. Its base rate of 13% is also the highest in the European Union, with annual inflation running at 25.4% in February. Apart from watching news related to the bank sector in Europe, investors are also looking forward to this week's meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Investors will be watching to see "whether the tensions in the banking system would prevent further rate hikes," said analysts at Magyar Bankholding in a note. The Polish zloty also firmed, by 0.2% to 4.6965 to the euro, along with the Czech crown . Analysts at Commerzbank said the zloty could have more room to firm this year as inflation is expected to decline. "The Polish inflation trend looks set to turn more benign over the coming quarters as it has done in the Czech Republic (Hungary remains an exception in the hawkish direction)," Commerzbank said.

"This in turn supports our view that the zloty could appreciate by the end of this year, other disruptive market factors permitting." Stock markets across the region gained on Tuesday, with Warsaw's WIG 20 index rising 1.3% and Budapest up 1.6% by 0833 GMT.

Prague's index, which on Monday hit a two-month low, was also up 1.3%, benefiting from improved sentiment. Shares in utility CEZ rose, but underperformed, after 2022 earnings indicated a record dividend. Profits this year are set to fall.

CEE SNAPSHO AT

MARKETS T 0933

CET

CURRENC

IES

Latest Previou Daily Change s

bid close change in 2023 EURCZK Czech <EURCZK 23.9400 23.9880 +0.20% +0.91% = crown =>
EURHUF Hungary <EURHUF 392.000 396.200 +1.07% +1.90% = forint => 0 0
EURPLN Polish <EURPLN 4.6965 4.7065 +0.21% -0.15% = zloty =>
EURRON Romanian <EURRON 4.9170 4.9220 +0.10% +0.52% = leu =>
EURHRK Croatian <EURHRK 7.5330 7.5365 +0.05% +0.05% = kuna =>
EURRSD Serbian <EURRSD 117.260 117.300 +0.03% +0.03% = dinar => 0 0

Note: calculated from 1800

daily CET

change

Latest Previou Daily Change s

close change in 2023 .PX Prague 1341.90 1324.55 +1.31% +11.66 00 % .BUX Budapest 41988.5 41343.6 +1.56% -4.12% 1 2
.WIG20 Warsaw <.WIG20 1708.55 1686.56 +1.30% -4.66% >
.BETI Buchares 12142.8 12053.5 +0.74% +4.11% t 8 9
.SBITO Ljubljan <.SBITO 1175.94 1174.39 +0.13% +12.12 P a P> % .CRBEX Zagreb <.CRBEX 2242.40 2242.40 +0.00% +753.3 > 7% .BELEX Belgrade <.BELEX 895.28 895.28 +0.00% +8.57% 15 15>
.SOFIX Sofia <.SOFIX 595.64 595.64 +0.00% -0.97% >

Yield Yield Spread Daily (bid) change vs Bund change in Czech spread Republic
CZ2YT= 2-year <CZ2YT= 5.3650 0.0710 +290bp -7bps RR RR> s
CZ5YT= 5-year <CZ5YT= 4.7250 0.0000 +255bp -11bps RR RR> s
CZ10YT <CZ10YT 4.4000 0.0240 +222bp -6bps =RR 10-year =RR> s

Poland
PL2YT= 2-year <PL2YT= 5.8670 0.0300 +341bp -11bps RR RR> s
PL5YT= 5-year <PL5YT= 5.8850 0.0280 +371bp -8bps RR RR> s
PL10YT <PL10YT 5.9980 0.0360 +382bp -4bps =RR 10-year =RR> s

FORWARD

3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interba nk Czech <CZKFRA 7.01 6.58 5.92 7.19 Rep ><PRIBO

R=>

Hungary <HUFFRA 15.10 13.37 12.12 16.31 ><BUBOR

=>

Poland <PLNFRA 6.74 6.52 6.04 6.90 ><WIBOR

=>

Note: are for ask

FRA prices

quotes

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(Reporting by Krisztina Than in Budapest, and Pawel Florkiewicz in Warsaw; editing by Mark Potter)

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