By Boldizsar Gyori
BUDAPEST, April 16 (Reuters) - The forint and the zloty
weakened on Tuesday while the crown held flat as tensions
continued to flare in the Middle East, hurting emerging market
currencies.
The dollar rose to a five-month high against major peers
following hotter-than-expected U.S. retail sales figures.
A firming dollar usually weighs on emerging market
currencies as it tends to attract investments away from assets
perceived as riskier.
Hungary's forint weakened half a percent this week
to trade at 394.8 to the euro at 0800 GMT, touching a two-week
low.
"The dollar firmed to the forint in the last couple of days
as well as against the euro due to the geopolitical situation,
so the currency's weakening is not forint-specific," a
Budapest-based trader said.
The Polish zloty also sunk to an almost one-month
low to the euro at 4.32, down from its highest since early 2020
reached last week.
"Last week's move to 4.26 did not stand the test of time or,
more specifically, of the strengthening dollar on international
markets," Bank Millennium said in a note.
The Czech crown firmed slightly to 25.29.
The dollar strengthened after U.S. retail sales increased
more than expected in March, data showed, further evidence that
the U.S. economy ended the first quarter on solid ground,
bolstering expectations that the Federal Reserve could delay
cutting interest rates until September.
Some economists see the window for lowering rates this year
closing.
The Federal Reserve keeping rates higher for longer will
dent investor appetite for riskier emerging market assets,
further weakening their currencies.
CEE SNAPSHO AT
MARKETS T 1000 CET
CURRENC
IES
Latest Previous Daily Change
bid close change in 2024
EURCZK= Czech
EURHUF= Hungary 0
EURPLN= Polish
EURRON= Romania
EURRSD= Serbian 0
Note: calculated from 1800
daily CET
change
Latest Previous Daily Change
close change in 2024
.PX Prague 1545.08 1557.560 -0.80% +9.27%
0
.BUX Budapes 66344.5 67407.86 -1.58% +9.44%
t 3
.WIG20 Warsaw 2421.31 2453.31 -1.30% +3.34%
.BETI Buchare 16776.8 16908.20 -0.78% +9.15%
st 3
Spread Daily
vs Bund change
in
Czech spread
Republi
c
CZ2YT=R s
CZ5YT=R s
CZ10YT= s
Poland
PL2YT=R s
PL5YT=R s
PL10YT= s
FORWARD
3x6 6x9 9x12 3M
interba
nk
Czech 4.83 4.28 4.09 5.55
Rep
Hungary 7.45 7.22 7.22 7.69
Poland 5.86 5.81 5.66 5.86
Note: are for ask
FRA prices
quotes
*********************************************
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(Reporting by Boldizsar Gyori in Budapest, additional reporting
by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk in Warsaw; Editing by Mrigank
Dhaniwala)