Forint firm on interbank market

Bad news of the day, including statistics on a fall of Hungaryʼs international reserves to a two-year low in August, other data on zero inflation last month and quickly narrowing industrial production in July that suggested economic slowdown could be deeper than expected earlier, were counterbalanced by a highly successful regular auction of three-month discount Treasury bills with huge demand and auction yield falling 14bps to an average 0.56p%, reflecting an improved global risk environment.

But three-month Hungarian sovereign yields fell only 8bps to 0.57% on the secondary market by late afternoon, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year tenor rose 2bps.

The Hungarian currency also got a slight boost from the euro which slowly rose versus the dollar for a fourth consecutive day.

The forint traded at 280.12 to the dollar, up from 281.45 in final quotes on Monday. On Tuesday, it moved between 279.87, a five-day high, and 281.83, after another more than three-week low in two days at 282.92 late Friday.

It was quoted at 286.41 to the Swiss franc, up from 288.67 late Monday. Its range on Tuesday was 286.37, an almost three-week high, to 289.19. 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.