Forint stable versus euro after US jobs data disappoints
The forint was trading at 311.85 to the euro late Friday on the interbank forex market, up from final quotes at 312.92 on Thursday. At 312.81 to the euro early Friday, the forint moved between 311.60, an eight-day high, and 313.82, after a two-week low at 316.26 late last Friday.
The forint is up 1.01% versus the euro from final quotes last Friday, after falling 1.34% in the week before. It is up 1.55% from the end of last year, after it lost 6.12% last year, and 1.95% in 2013.
The Hungarian currency was almost motionless versus the euro and fell against the dollar for most of the day, to turn around sharply after September US jobs data came in worse-than-expected, also showing average earnings growth stalled last month in the US.
Following US data the Hungarian currency gained more versus the diving dollar than the euro did, so it left the common currency behind as well.
On the domestic turf, analysts see the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) mulling additional steps to nudge resident investors into government bonds while squeezing out non-residents, which could limit the forintʼs gains.
Some pressure on the forint is also expected as the Hungarian government is about to propose to uncap the budget allocation for handling the refugee crisis, an amendment that could raise the budget deficit, making it difficult for rating agencies to upgrade Hungary before the year is out.
The forint traded at 276.72 to the dollar, up from 279.49 in final quotes on Thursday. On Friday, it moved between 276.24, an eleven-day high, and 280.89, after a four-day low at 281.40 late Thursday, and a more than six-week low at 284.00 late last Friday.
It was quoted at 285.16 to the Swiss franc, up from 285.93 late Thursday. Its range on Friday was 284.97, an eight-day high, to 287.45, after a nearly three-week low at 289.23 last Friday intraday. Since its crash to an all-time low at 378.49 to the franc on January 15 when the Swiss central bank scrapped its cap of 1.20 to the euro, it reached the highest at 281.07 on February 26.
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