Forint underperforms; investors unwind zloty short bets
- The Hungarian forint slid 0.42% to 360.80 per euro, underperforming its peers. It has lost 1% this week.
- The currency weakened in low liquidity because of a zloty-forint flow, traders in Budapest said, adding that the forint was also due for a correction after steady gains in the past few weeks.
BUDAPEST: The Hungarian forint extended losses on Friday, while other central European currencies were stable or slightly higher, as investors unwound their short positions on the zloty.
The Hungarian forint slid 0.42% to 360.80 per euro, underperforming its peers. It has lost 1% this week.
The currency weakened in low liquidity because of a zloty-forint flow, traders in Budapest said, adding that the forint was also due for a correction after steady gains in the past few weeks.
"Many investors had shorted the zloty in anticipation of the supreme court decision about the Swiss franc mortgages, which previously caused a zloty-forint flow in the other direction," one trader said.
"As the decision is being postponed once again, they are closing those positions."
Poland's Supreme Court announced last Friday that a sitting concerning the issue of Swiss francs would be postponed until May 11.
The Polish zloty firmed 0.09% on the day, trading at 4.5480 to the euro.
Poland's central bank is set to release March net inflation data at 1200 GMT.
Based on the breakdown of March inflation data, Commerzbank expects core inflation to rise, which is "bad news for the zloty exchange rate as it will shrink Poland's real interest rate in the face of unchanged monetary policy stance of the central bank."
Elsewhere, the Czech crown edged up 0.08% to 25.9030 versus the common currency.
The Romanian leu was flat a day after the firing of the health minister caused a political crisis, although a coalition government is expected to stay intact.
Romania's central bank saw no reason to further cut its benchmark interest rate from the current 1.25% level, Governor Mugur Isarescu said in an interview.
Stocks were mixed, with Budapest up 0.1% and Warsaw sliding 0.43%. Buchartest firmed 0.48%.
Prague's equities were up 0.48% as Moneta Bank's shares gained 2.24% by 0912 GMT after the central bank approved an increase of PPF Group's holding in Moneta to 28.34%, the first step in a proposed merger of its local lending business with the bank.
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