Zloty holds steady near 2023 highs, other FX move sideways

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BUDAPEST — The Polish zloty

held steady near 3-1/2-month highs versus the euro in

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Thursday morning trade, with other regional currencies also

hovering around their 2023 highs, supported by a retreat in the

dollar and high central bank interest rates.

At 0751 GMT, the zloty traded unchanged at 4.6525 versus the

euro, while other central European peers were flat to a touch

weaker, with all units in the black for the year, supported by

hefty central bank rate hikes over the past year.

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Central bankers across central Europe have doubled down on

hawkish policy messages in the past two weeks in a bid to

persuade investors to ditch bets that they will soon begin an

easing cycle. Their message is starting to gain traction.

“At the end of yesterday’s session, the zloty managed to

leave its 1.5-month sideways channel and fell to 4.65 per EUR,

i.e. to this year’s minimum. Thus, the EUR/PLN exchange rate is

approaching the next technical barrier, i.e. 4.6328,” Bank

Millennium said in a note.

“The currencies of the region are still supported by the

upward trend of the euro/dollar, although in our opinion it may

take a breather after it reached this year’s maximum, and the

theme of the outlook for the monetary policy of the Fed and the

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ECB seem to have been temporarily worn out by the markets.”

The forint, bolstered by the European Union’s

highest base rate at 13%, traded down 0.2% at 374.85 versus the

euro, with March inflation data released on Wednesday

underpinning views that interest rate cuts were not on the

agenda.

“The forint was supported by the data reinforcing the

expectation that there will be no rate cuts until the end of

Q2,” a Budapest-based currency dealer said.

Economists at Commerzbank said while Hungarian inflation

measures mostly eased in March in an underlying sense, their

month-on-month rates were “too high for comfort.”

“This means that (the National Bank of Hungary) will likely

not be able to let up on its hawkish rhetoric anytime soon,

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which in turn, will be HUF-supportive,” the economists said.

CEE SNAPSHOT AT

MARKETS 0951

CET

CURRENCIE

S

Latest Previou Daily Change

s

bid close change in 2023

EURCZK Czech 23.3690 23.3440 -0.11% +3.38%

= crown

EURHUF Hungary 374.8500 374.000 -0.23% +6.56%

= forint 0

EURPLN Polish 4.6525 4.6535 +0.02% +0.80%

= zloty

EURRON Romanian 4.9400 4.9380 -0.04% +0.05%

= leu

EURRSD Serbian 117.2000 117.300 +0.09% +0.09%

= dinar 0

Note: calculated from 1800

daily CET

change

Latest Previou Daily Change

s

close change in 2023

.PX Prague 1404.49 1402.32 +0.15% +16.87

00 %

.BUX Budapest 43274.50 43375.4 -0.23% -1.19%

3

.WIG20 Warsaw 1819.73 1816.28 +0.19% +1.55%

.BETI Buchares 12462.09 12434.4 +0.22% +6.85%

t 3

.SBITO Ljubljan 1230.11 1230.53 -0.03% +17.29

P a %

.CRBEX Zagreb 2252.28 2251.08 +0.05% +757.1

3%

.BELEX Belgrade <.belex15>

.SOFIX Sofia 611.22 611.57 -0.06% +1.62%

Yield Yield Spread Daily

(bid) change vs Bund change

in

Czech spread

Republic

CZ2YT= 2-year s

CZ5YT= 5-year s

CZ10YT s

Poland

PL2YT= 2-year s

PL5YT= 5-year s

PL10YT s

FORWARD

3×6 6×9 9×12 3M

interba

nk

Czech

Hungary

Poland

Note: are for ask prices

FRA

quotes

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(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs, Boldizsar Gyori and Alan

Charlish; Editing by Christina Fincher)