WARSAW, Dec 16 (Reuters) – Central Eastern European currencies held near recent highs on Monday, ahead of central bank meetings in Hungary and the Czech Republic later this week which are expected to leave interest rates unchanged. At 1007 GMT the Hungarian forint traded flat against the euro at 408.50. Analysts polled by Reuters expect the National Bank of Hungary (NBH) to hold its base rate at 6.5% on Tuesday. In the meantime, investors are scrutinising comments by NBH governor nominee Mihaly Varga in a parliament committee hearing on Monday. “The primary aim of the central bank is to achieve and maintain price stability,” Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s nominee said, affirming the bank’s 3% medium-term inflation target. Varga, currently finance minister, will take the helm of the central bank in March, with the economy barely growing, inflation proving sticky and after the forint weakened the most among Central Europe’s currencies this year. The Czech crown was also steady at 25.0180 per euro on Monday, near a more than 3-month high, ahead of the Czech National Bank’s (CNB) meeting on Thursday. “The crown…this week is charged to continue firming,” Bank CSOB analysts wrote. “We expect a rather tactical pause in cutting rates, which the crown should like, especially if (CNB) Governor Michl’s rhetoric remains hawkish.” In Poland, the zloty edged up 0.1% to 4.2600 per euro, near its strongest level since late September. “We assess that currently the conditions are not right for EURPLN to fall to new lows, state-owned development bank BGK analysts wrote in a note citing concerns about a more hawkish U.S. Federal Reserve and the geopolitical situation as not favourable for an increase in risk appetite.” “As a result, we expect euro quotes in the range of 4.26-4.28 zloty, rather than a successful attempt for the EURPLN to drop below 4.25.” The euro ticked up against the dollar on Monday after dipping to its weakest since late November at the end of last week. Markets expect the Fed to cut interest rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday, but signal a measured pace of easing for 2025. Poland’s central bank will publish November net inflation data later on Monday and the statistics office will release a number of indicators at the end of the week including industrial production, wages and retail sales data. CEE SNAPSHOT AT MARKETS 1117 CET CURRENCI ES Latest Previous Daily Change trade close change in 2024 Czech 25.0180 25.0155 -0.01% -1.27% crown Hungary 408.5000 408.5800 0.02% -6.20% forint Polish 4.2600 4.2625 0.06% 1.98% zloty Romanian 4.9760 4.9739 -0.04% -0.03% leu Serbian 116.9300 116.9400 0.01% 0.27% dinar Note: calculated from 1800 CET daily change Latest Previous Daily Change close change in 2024 Prague 1757.57 1749.350 0.47% 24.30% 0 Budapest 80034.00 80165.64 -0.16% 32.03% Warsaw 2275.01 2273.12 0.08% -2.90% Bucharest 17385.94 17432.02 -0.26% 13.11% Spread Daily vs Bund change in Czech spread Republic 2-year
5-year
10-year
Poland 2-year
