By Anita Komuves
BUDAPEST, May 15 (Reuters) - Central European stock markets
rose and most currencies edged higher on Friday, tracking a
rally in Western European shares driven by positive economic
data from China.
The DAX index of Germany, Central Europe's biggest
trading partner, rose 1.76% by 1022 GMT as data showed China's
industrial production rose in April after having contracted
since the start of the coronavirus outbreak.
Preliminary first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data
came in better than expected in nearly all the countries of
Central Europe, despite the economic damage wrought by the
pandemic.
Hungary's growth rate halved to an annual 2.2% in the first
quarter from 4.5% in the last quarter of 2019. Poland's GDP rose
1.9% year-on-year, while Romania's economy grew 2.4% on the year
in the first quarter.
The Czech GDP dropped by 3.6% in the first quarter, versus
the previous three months, the steepest drop since the global
financial crisis in 2009.
"It is the extent of decline in Q2, and the extent of
rebound in Q3 which the market is essentially interested in.
Hence, today's data is likely to turn out to be FX neutral,"
Commerzbank said in a note.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he hopes the
industrial manufacturing sector, which represents close to a
third of the economy, will return to its pre-crisis expansion
rate from June.
Hungary's economy could accelerate in the second half and
reverse an expected overall 3% drop in GDP this year with a
growth of 4.8% in 2021, Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said in a
statement.
Currencies in the region firmed or held stable. The Polish
zloty was up 0.26% and trading at 4.554 versus the
euro, while the Hungarian forint gained 0.17%, firming
to 353.700 versus the common currency.
The Czech crown led gains, adding 0.58% to trade
at 27.460 against the euro. The crown has lost 7.4% of its value
versus the euro this year, the biggest loss among its regional
peers.
Central bank governor Jiri Rusnok said the Czech National
Bank is not in a situation that would warrant interventions
against the crown.
Budapest's blue-chip index led gains, firming 1.28%
by 0806 GMT. Warsaw was up 0.85%, while Bucharest
gained 0.75%. Prague's equities gained 0.52%.
CEE SNAPSHOT AT
MARKETS 1006 CET
CURRENCIE
S
Latest Previous Daily Change
bid close change in 2020
Czech 27.4600 27.6200 +0.58% -7.39%
crown
Hungary 353.7000 354.3000 +0.17% -6.38%
forint
Polish 4.5540 4.5660 +0.26% -6.53%
zloty
Romanian 4.8385 4.8375 -0.02% -1.04%
leu
Croatian 7.5720 7.5733 +0.02% -1.67%
kuna
Serbian 117.5700 117.6200 +0.04% +0.00%
dinar
Note: calculated from 1800 CET
daily
change
Latest Previous Daily Change
close change in 2020
Prague 863.45 858.9600 +0.52% -22.60%
Budapest 34582.21 34144.57 +1.28% -24.96%
Warsaw 1592.65 1579.16 +0.85% -25.93%
Bucharest 8204.46 8143.54 +0.75% -17.77%
Ljubljana 813.09 808.02 +0.63% -12.18%
Zagreb 1551.74 1546.68 +0.33% -23.08%
Belgrade <.BELEX15 668.10 662.11 +0.90% -16.66%
>
Sofia 449.51 449.51 +0.00% -20.88%
Yield Yield Spread Daily
(bid) change vs Bund change
in
Czech spread
Republic
2-year <CZ2YT=RR 0.1760 -0.0210 +093bps -1bps
>
5-year <CZ5YT=RR 0.3390 0.0230 +109bps +3bps
>
10-year <CZ10YT=R 0.9080 0.1730 +145bps +18bps
R>
Poland
2-year <PL2YT=RR 0.4990 -0.0030 +125bps +1bps
>
5-year <PL5YT=RR 0.8850 -0.0050 +163bps +0bps
>
10-year <PL10YT=R 1.2620 -0.0090 +180bps -1bps
R>
FORWARD
3x6 6x9 9x12 3M
interban
k
Czech Rep < 0.19 0.18 0.21 0.35
PRIBOR=>
Hungary < 0.93 0.90 0.86 1.05
BUBOR=>
Poland < 0.32 0.28 0.29 0.68
WIBOR=>
Note: FRA are for ask prices
quotes
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(Editing by Devika Syamnath)
