Along with Central European peers, the Hungarian currency firmed after news came out that Russia and Ukraine have reached an agreement on a cease fire and a new IMF funding could ease Ukraine’s crisis.
“Whilst Ukraine and Greece are set to continue to exert ongoing pressure on Central European local debt markets, we believe that … correction will open room for another round of gains,” Raiffeisen said in a note a Thursday.
The forint climbed on the improvement of the external political landscape while forecasters revisited the quasi-certainty of a series of rate cuts by regional central banks from March, but emphasised that the ECB’s quantitative easing would make room for such moves.
An auction on Thursday of one-year Hungarian Treasury-bills and three-year floating-rate bonds with mixed results, however, signaled on-going worries in the background.
The forint traded at 268.77 to the dollar, up from 272.87 late Wednesday. On Thursday, it moved between 268.50, a six-day high, and 273.71. It reached a one-month high at 265.81 last Thursday.
It was quoted at 289.80 to the Swiss franc, up from 293.74 late Wednesday. Its range on Thursday was 288.82, a six-day high, to 294.83. Last Friday, at 287.52, it reached the highest 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.
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