BUDAPEST: The forint set a new 3-week high against the euro on Wednesday, outperforming Central European peers as it benefited from increased appetite for emerging market currencies and stocks.
MSCI's indexes for emerging market stocks and currencies rose moderately as an unexpected recovery in China's economy reduced fears of a global slowdown.
Currencies in the European Union's eastern states were mostly steady on investor caution ahead of key purchasing managers' indexes (PMI) due on Thursday from the euro zone.
Central European economies have lost some steam after robust growth last year and a slump in demand in their main Western export markets, mainly Germany, could slow them further.
The forint was 0.2 percent firmer at 319.17 versus the euro by 0848 GMT, in line with the MSCI currency index, while the zloty was flat at 4.2742, near 2-1/2-month highs.
Polish wages rose at a robust 5.4 percent annual rate in March, though below analysts' 7.2 percent forecast.
The forint has become the region's most volatile unit in the past month, taking the place of the leu, which has calmed down as tax measures which had caused jitters for months in Bucharest markets got watered down.
The forint has weakened and has been swinging around the 320 level against the euro after the Hungarian central bank late last month dropped its guidance of gradual policy tightening.
March data released since then showed a rise in Hungary's annual inflation near the top of the bank's 2-4 percent target.
The forint extended gains on Wednesday after piercing its
100-day moving average in the previous session.
"Other emerging market units (are) firm, too... but if euro zone PMIs are weak tomorrow, that will weaken the euro, and through that the forint as well," one Budapest-based dealer said.
Regional government bonds mostly tracked a rise in Bund yields, with yields on Poland's 10-year paper trading at 2.876, up 2 basis points.
The region's equities indexes were flat or moderately higher.
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