EEC MARKETS-Budapest stocks hit record high, US employment data in focus

By Anita Komuves BUDAPEST, June 4 (Reuters) – Budapest stocks opened at a record high on Friday as currencies were mixed as all eyes were on key U.S. jobs data due later in throughout the day, traders expecting a dollar to strengthen to put pressure on currencies. The Budapest stock index broke its all-time high on Tuesday and has continued to strengthen since. Shares edged up 0.02% on Friday as OTP Bank hit an all-time high. âThe trading volume is not high, and investors seem to choose which blue chip to go for. One day OTP pulls the market, the next day it’s Richter, then MOL,â said a stock operator in Budapest. “I expect a correction soon, the firming of 5,000 points since mid-April seems a bit too much.” The Prague index slipped 0.09% while Warsaw was down 0.67%. Bucharest added 0.47%. Currencies were mostly flat as investors waited for May’s data on non-farm wages in the United States at 12:30 GMT for signs of economic recovery and rising inflation, which could raise concerns about Federal Reserve policy tightening. Strong weekly data on unemployment and private wages already pushed the dollar to multi-week highs on Thursday, weakening central European currencies, traders in Budapest said. âBoth the forint and the zloty dipped yesterday just after the data was released,â said one trader. “I expect bigger moves in the afternoon as the market has held its breath all week while awaiting payroll figures in the United States.” The Hungarian forint strengthened 0.13% that day, trading at 347.05 per euro after a roller coaster ride in the previous session, when it hit a new nine-month high and a half to 345.00 before retreating. The currency has strengthened since mid-May, when the central bank first announced a rate hike in June to curb inflation. However, a Reuters analyst poll indicates that the currency has returned to 350 per euro in 12 months. The Czech koruna, also recently boosted by political tightening expectations, is expected to strengthen further to 25.20 per euro. The krone edged up 0.05% to 25.476 against the common currency on Friday. Elsewhere, the Polish zloty slipped 0.15% to 4.4709 against the euro and the Romanian leu edged down 0.02% to 4.9230. SNAPSHOT OF EEC MARKETS T 1043 CET CURRENC IES Last daily change previous change of bid closing in 2021 EURCZK = Czech EURHUF = Hungary 0 EURPLN = Polish EURRON = Romania EURHRK = Croatia EURRSD = Serbian 0 Note: calculated from of 1800 daily change CET Last daily change previous close change in 2021 .PX Prague 1173.63 1174.710 -0.09% +14.26 0% .BUX Budapes 47433.5 47422.77 + 0.02% +12, 65 t 4% .WIG20 Warsaw 2,237.08 2,252.26 -0.67% + 12.76% .BETI Bucare 11,658.6 11,604.44 + 0.47% +18.90 st 5% .SBITOP Ljublja <.sbitop na> % .CRBEX Zagreb 1953.87 1951.71 + 0.11% +12.34% .BELEX1 Belgrad <.belex1 e> .SOFIX Sofia 540.76 541.27 -0.09% + 20.83% Yield Yield Spread Daily variation (bid) vs Bund variation of the Czech spread Republished CZ2YT = R s CZ5YT = R s CZ10YT = s Poland PL2YT = R s PL5YT = R s PL10YT = s FORWARD 3x 6×9 9×12 3M Czech interbank 0.71 0.97 1.32 0.40 Hungary Rep 1.28 1.52 1.68 0.92 Poland 0.34 0.51 0, 69 0.21 ******************************************* *** **** ********** (Edited by Subhranshu Sahu)