While US rate hike expectations, continuing ups and downs in the Greek saga, and falling euro zone sovereign yields kept the euro in bay versus the dollar, the forint tread water, underpinned by an unexpectedly strong sale of longer term Hungarian government bonds on Thursday. Investors may have shifted into Hungaryʼs debt from Polish paper after Polandʼs presidential election result on Sunday unnerved financial markets, analysts said.
However, the Hungarian currency could not break out of its recent weak range given the National Bank of Hungaryʼs (MNB) solid easing bias for the foreseeable future, and as fresh data on investment growth falling in the first quarter confirmed expectations for both foreign direct investment in manufacturing and EU funds in general to taper off.
The forint traded at 283.70 to the dollar, a hair up from 283.87 late Wednesday. On Thursday, it moved between 281.94 and 284.21 after a more than tow-month low at 285.89 Wednesday intraday.
It was quoted at 299.64 to the Swiss franc, down from 298.76 late Wednesday. Its range on Thursday was 297.91 to 299.76, an almost four-month low. Since its crash to an all-time low at 378.49 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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