UPDATE 1-CEE MARKETS-Forint little moved as central bank delivers expected rate cut

(Added central bank decision, comment, updated numbers) BUDAPEST, April 25 (Reuters) - The forint hardly budged on Tuesday after Hungary's central bank delivered a cut at the top end of its interest rate corridor, a move that had been flagged last week. The National Bank of Hungary slashed the top of its interest rate corridor by 450 basis points to 20.5% on Tuesday, while leaving other rates unchanged, and said any change to its key 18% rate in coming months would depend on risk assessment. "The market expected this to happen, and the upper end of the corridor has no big significance. The quick one-day deposit rate is the one that matters when it comes to supporting the forint," a currency trader in Budapest said.

The loan rate is the top of the central bank's corridor used to guide interbank markets toward the policy rate, setting limits on rate-setting. The bank also has an 18% one-day deposit rate which has helped attract money flows and boosted the forint, which had touched record lows a half-year ago.

The forint was down 0.27% at 376.70 to the euro at 1458 GMT, little changed from the levels it had been at earlier in the day. The Hungarian currency had firmed last week to a one-year high beyond 370. However, it weakened by almost 2% after Deputy Governor Barnabas Virag, in an interview, flagged the cut to the top collateralised loan rate. The Czech crown also weakened by 0.17% on Tuesday to 23.495 per euro and the Polish zloty gained 0.09%, trading at 4.5965, off a session high of 4.5945, its strongest since June last year. The zloty has been the best performing currency in the region in recent weeks after it had lagged peers earlier this year, with fading expectations of rate cuts helping.

CEE SNAPSHOT AT

MARKETS 1658 CET

CURRENCI

ES

Latest Previous Daily Change bid close change in 2023 EURCZK= Czech <EURCZK= 23.4950 23.4550 -0.17% +2.82% crown >
EURHUF= Hungary <EURHUF= 376.7000 375.7000 -0.27% +6.04% forint >
EURPLN= Polish <EURPLN= 4.5965 4.6005 +0.09 +2.02% zloty > %
EURRON= Romania <EURRON= 4.9368 4.9320 -0.10% +0.12% n leu >
EURRSD= Serbian <EURRSD= 117.1700 117.2950 +0.11 +0.11% dinar > %

Note: calculated from 1800

daily CET

change

Latest Previous Daily Change close change in 2023 .PX Prague 1413.28 1415.130 -0.13% +17.60% 0
.BUX Budapes 43568.08 43666.91 -0.23% -0.52% t
.WIG20 Warsaw 1890.52 1910.52 -1.05% +5.50% .BETI Buchare 12431.25 12438.71 -0.06% +6.58% st
.SBITOP Ljublja <.SBITOP 1232.64 1235.71 -0.25% +17.53% na >
.BELEX1 Belgrad <.BELEX1 895.82 903.11 -0.81% +8.64% 5 e 5>
.SOFIX Sofia 610.08 607.36 +0.45 +1.43% %

Yield Yield Spread Daily (bid) change vs change Bund in Czech spread Republi

c
CZ2YT=R <CZ2YT=R 5.7550 0.0090 +292b +13bps R 2-year R> ps
CZ5YT=R <CZ5YT=R 5.0510 -0.1030 +265b +3bps R 5-year R> ps
CZ10YT= <CZ10YT= 4.6990 -0.0790 +232b +4bps RR 10-year RR> ps

Poland
PL2YT=R <PL2YT=R 5.9770 -0.0900 +314b +3bps R 2-year R> ps
PL5YT=R <PL5YT=R 5.9260 -0.1130 +352b +2bps R 5-year R> ps
PL10YT= <PL10YT= 5.9360 -0.0870 +356b +3bps RR 10-year RR> ps

FORWARD

3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interban k Czech 7.16 6.74 6.03 7.18 Rep <PRIBOR=

>

Hungary 14.48 12.68 11.23 16.24 Poland 6.81 6.63 6.27 6.90 Note: are for ask prices

FRA

quotes

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(Reporting by Boldizsar Gyori in Budapest and Karol Badohal in Warsaw, editing by William Maclean and Mark Heinrich)

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