CEE forex edges up

Central European currencies edged up on Monday, with markets awaiting details of trade agreement between the United States and China. The United States will reduce some tariffs in exchange for what US officials said would be a jump in Chinese purchases of American farm products and other goods. But fine details of the deal, which has not been signed yet, are still awaited.

By 0910 GMT, the Polish zloty had edged up 0.2% to 4.2660 to the euro. The Hungarian forint continued to gain, past the resistance level of 330. Late on Friday, two central bank sources said Hungary's central bank plans to extend a 300 billion forint ($989 million) programme to buy corporate bonds it began in July, with a decision possibly as soon as Tuesday.

The Romanian leu was flat and the Czech crown lingered at around 25.4900 against the euro, as November producer price data provided reason not to raise interest rates. Elsewhere, Romanian debt managers plan to sell 500 million lei ($115.45 million) worth of 2031 treasury bonds.

Among regional stock markets, Prague and Budapest led gains with 0.3% rise. Hungary's OTP traded up 0.13% on the day at 15,620. On Friday, it said it had completed acquisition of a 99.73% stake in Slovenian SKB Banka from Societe Generale.