PRAGUE, March 7 (Reuters) – The Hungarian forint and Polish zloty weakened to record lows as banks slumped to drag the sector on Monday, following signals from global markets as investors maintained a cautious stance with Western countries considering a ban on import Russian oil.
Central Europe has been hit hard by the flight to safer assets following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with concerns heightened over the stagflationary effects of the crisis.
The Czech central bank said last week that it was intervening in the markets against excessive fluctuations and depreciation of the krone. He did not comment on Monday whether he was active in the markets.
The crown EURCZK= was down 0.8% on the day at 25.854 per euro, falling less than its Central European peers.
The forint led the losses among Central European markets and hit all-time lows of 400 to the euro. As of 09:09 GMT, it was down 3.4% at 399.0 per euro.
Last week the forint posted its biggest weekly loss and is down more than 8% since February 24, the start of the Russian invasion, which Moscow says is a “special military operation”.
“I could say I’ve never seen anything like it,” said a Budapest-based trader on the forint. “I was trading during the 2008 (global financial) crisis, and the uncertainty was high at the time, but it wasn’t a war.”
Hungary’s government bond market was virtually at a standstill, two fixed-income traders in Budapest said.
“We are about 30 basis points higher than Friday’s close on the long end of the curve,” one said. “But no customers are calling, nothing is happening, everyone is sitting and watching the forint and waiting for the central bank to do something.”
Hungary’s central bank was not immediately available to comment on market moves on Monday.
The Polish zloty fell 2.25% to 4.9615 per euro, just after a record low of 4.9625 reached during the session. Last week, the Polish central bank also sold foreign currencies against zlotys to support the currency.
Polish banking stocks sent the Warsaw index down 1.5% as the stock market’s banking index fell more than 7% .BNKI. Financial stocks in the region were also under pressure, and Budapest .BUX and Prague .PX fell 6.25% and 5.7%, respectively.
CEE MARKETS
INSTANTANEOUS
At 1009 CET
CURRENCIES
Last
Previous
Daily
Change
bid
Close
change
in 2022
EURCZK=
Czech koruna
EURCZK=
25.8540
25.6580
-0.76%
-3.80%
EURHUF=
Hungarian forint
EURHUF=
399.0000
385.6300
-3.35%
-7.42%
EURPLN=
polish zloty
EURPLN=
4.9615
4.8501
-2.25%
-7.47%
EURRON=
lei in Romanian
EURRON=
4.9495
4.9500
+0.01%
-0.03%
EURHRK=
Croatian kuna
EURHRK=
7.5570
7.5585
+0.02%
-0.52%
EURRSD=
Serbian dinar
EURRSD=
117.5500
117.6500
+0.09%
+0.03%
Note: daily change
calculated from
1800 CET
INVENTORY
Last
Previous
Daily
Change
Close
change
in 2022
.PX
prague
.PX
1231.34
1306.1400
-5.73%
#ASSESS!
.BUX
Budapest
.BUX
38892.97
40246.70
-3.36%
-23.32%
.WIG20
Warsaw
.WIG20
1889.76
1918.75
-1.51%
-16.64%
.BETI
Bucharest
.BETI
10683.88
11395.60
-6.25%
-18.20%
.SBITOP
Ljubljana
.SBITOP
1075.39
1121.24
-4.09%
-14.34%
.CRBEX
Zagreb
.CRBEX
1883.24
1946.54
-3.25%
-9.43%
.BELEX15
Belgrade
.BELEX15
829.18
829.71
-0.06%
+1.02%
.SOFIX
Sofia
.SOFIX
544.92
574.42
-5.14%
-14.28%
OBLIGATIONS
Yield
Yield
propagated
Daily
(bid)
change
vs. Bunds
change
Czech Republic
spread
CZ2YT=RR
2 years
CZ2YT=RR
4.3540
0.0000
+513 basis points
-1bps
CZ5YT=RR
5 years
CZ5YT=RR
3.6680
0.1270
+406 basis points
+11 basis points
CZ10YT=RR
10 years
CZ10YT=RR
3.2310
0.0980
+331 basis points
+7 basis points
Poland
PL2YT=RR
2 years
PL2YT=RR
4.5260
0.1930
+531 basis points
+18 basis points
PL5YT=RR
5 years
PL5YT=RR
4.5620
0.2530
+496 basis points
+24bps
PL10YT=RR
10 years
PL10YT=RR
4.3760
0.2310
+445bps
+21 basis points
ENG
3×6
6×9
9×12
3M interbank
Czech Republic
CZKFRAPRIBOUR=
4.96
4.96
4.72
4.77
Hungary
OYSTERBUBOR=
7.54
7.56
7.44
5.58
Poland
PLNFRAWIBOR=
5.48
5.52
5.49
3.78
Note: FRA quotations correspond to asking prices
************************************************** **** ***********
(Reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague, Anita Komuves in Budapest and Alicja Ptak in Warsaw; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.