Forint turns south on interbank market

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The forint was trading at 304.84 to the euro late Monday on the interbank forex market, down from 301.40 late Friday and 302.66 late Sunday. At 302.69 to the euro early Monday, the forint moved between 302.43 and 304.97 after a second nearly two-month low in as many days at 307.87 last Thursday intraday.

The Hungarian currency cut short a slight recovery at the end of last week while euro zone sovereign yields re-started to rise amid fears for Greeceʼs solvency, and the dollar firmed again versus the euro.

This counterbalanced fresh statistics of Hungaryʼs exports and trade surplus powering ahead in March, and a raised projection for Hungaryʼs current account surplus this year by the IMF.

A fall of Polish assets also weighed, after a surprise election setback for the ruling party there raised concerns that Europeʼs biggest emerging economy might get a less business-friendly government.

It did not come as a surprise, but it did not support the forint either, that the deputy director for the IMFʼs European department Jorg Decressin said at a Budapest press conference on Monday that there was room for a possible continuation of the National Bank of Hungaryʼs (MNB) easing cycle in light of the very low inflationary pressure in the country.

The forint traded at 273.34 to the dollar, down from 269.89 late Friday and 270.33 late Sunday. On Monday, it moved between 270.14 and 273.83, an eleven-day low after a more than two-month high at 268.08 last Wednesday intraday.

It was quoted at 293.06 to the Swiss franc, down from 291.16 late Friday and 290.17 late Sunday. Its range on Monday was 289.95 to 293.29 after a more than three-month low at 297.98 last Thursday intraday. 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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