BUDAPEST: Emerging European assets mostly made mild gains on Wednesday, buoyed by subsiding bookmakers' probabilities of a British exit from the European Union that would be likely to drive cash out of risky assets and towards safe havens.
Local factors were mostly overlooked as Hungary's decision to leave interest rates at a record low on Tuesday came as expected, as did the bank's assessment that rates will stay this low for as long as possible. Analysts expect the rate to remain unchanged until the end of 2017 at least.
The same is likely in Poland, where a rate setter told Reuters the benchmark would probably stay at the current 1.5 percent level for a year, then begin to rise.
For Thursday's referendum, betting odds show a greater probability that Britain will vote to stay in the EU rather than leave, which has helped markets recover this week, although opinion polls show the two camps are roughly neck-and-neck.
Meanwhile, stock markets showed mixed activity, as Prague stocks continued to bounce off a seven-year low hit last week, rising for a fourth straight session, led by financial stocks and energy company CEZ.
Stocks in Hungary were flat near a 9-year high, meanwhile, despite negative company news coming out of Budapest.
Embattled lender FHB, the smaller of two listed Hungarian banks, received a warning on Tuesday from Moody's, which placed it on review for a downgrade as its financial problems were compounded by a criminal investigation.
FHB has lost 40 percent of its value in 10 days earlier this month, but its free-floating shares represent a small proportion of stocks traded in Budapest, with sector rival OTP taking the lion's share of the blue chip index.
Haulage firm Waberer's on Wednesday announced it was selling founder Gyorgy Waberer's stake in the company to majority owner Mid Europa Partners, which raised its own stake to 97 percent.
Waberer's was one of two firms that signalled an intent to list on the stock exchange in Budapest, where the bourse's owner, the National Bank of Hungary, has long sought to reinvigorate trading and introduce new entrants.
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