WARSAW, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Central European currencies
were holding steady on Friday despite tremors in global markets
caused by fears over AI, as investors digested the Czech central
bank's decision to maintain a cautious approach and leave rates
unchanged.
The crown firmed around 0.5% against the euro on Thursday
after the Czech National Bank (CNB) left its main ?rate unchanged
at 3.50%, with Governor Ales Michl saying policymakers would
need to see slower momentum in core inflation to allow for
further ?easing.
It was trading at 24.247, close to Thursday's closing price,
at 0924 GMT on Friday.
"Through 2025, ?the CZK appreciated by ~7% on a
trade-weighted basis and the CNB's relatively ?hawkish stance is
contributing to ?further appreciation pressure," Goldman Sachs (GS)
said in a note.
Globally, financial markets were gripped by volatility, as
silver and cryptocurrencies whipsawed and ?stock indices sank
into the red after stocks on ?Wall Street sold off on Thursday
for a third straight day on fears that new AI models may start
to eat into the profits of software firms.
Central ?European currencies appeared unfazed, with the
Hungarian forint ?trading flat ?at 378.95 and the Polish
zloty firming 0.14% to 4.214.
"Emerging markets are favoured these days and money is
flowing this way ... Investors are getting out of gold, silver,
crypto and ?lots of things, and a record amount of money has been
flowing into emerging markets in the past week," an FX trader in
Budapest said.
"With our high base rate, Hungary still offers a good return
for carry traders. As long as the rate is high, investors will
buy the forint."
In Poland, investors were weighing comments from Central
Bank Governor Adam Glapinski at a press conference ?on ?Thursday,
after Wednesday's decision by the Monetary Policy Council to
leave the cost of credit unchanged at 4.00%.
Glapinski said March could be a good moment to cut interest
rates and ?that a possible target level for the main rate could
be 3.50%, sentiments that were echoed by central bankers Henryk
Wnorowski and Ludwik Kotecki in interviews with Reuters.
"Yesterday's ... conference basically did not change the
perspective for monetary policy," an FX trader in Warsaw said.
The zloty seemed immune to the volatility in global markets, the
trader added.
"I must say that we cannot see much ... capital outflow
based on risk aversion, which is rising," ?the trader said. "From
that perspective, the zloty is sort of a safe-haven currency.
Liquidity is still narrow, and the zloty is well supported."
CEE MARKETS SNAPSHOT AT
1024 CET
CURRENCI Latest Previous Daily Change
ES trade close change in 2026
Czech Hungary 0
Polish %
Romanian Serbian 0 %
Note: daily change
calculated from 1800 CET
STOCKS Latest Previous Daily Change
close change in 2025
Prague 2757.83 2775.940 -0.65% +2.69%
0
Budapest 129412. 129819.1 -0.31% +16.55%
15 1
Warsaw 3384.27 3370.89 +0.40 +6.29%
%
Buchares 26923.4 27277.94 -1.30% +10.17%
t 2
BONDS Yield Yield Spread Daily
(bid) change vs change
Bund in
spread
Czech ps
2-year
Czech ps
5-year
Czech ps
10-year
Poland ps
Poland ps
Poland ps
FORWARD 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M
RATE interban
AGREEMEN k
TS
Czech 3.45 3.35 3.33 3.46
Rep Poland 3.51 3.41 3.40 3.90
Note: FRA quotes are for ask ?prices
(Reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw, Anita Komuves and
Krisztina Than in Budapest; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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