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Forint leads CEE currencies’ losses
The Central European currencies eased on Monday, wiping out their gains from the end of the last week. Like on Friday, the forint led the flock when troubles of banking sector negatively affected market sentiment in Hungary.
Yesterday a court in Budapest resumed a lawsuit with eleven commercial banks that had been accused of cartel practices in connection with a repayment scheme invented by state authorities in order to help holders of foreign currency mortgages three years ago. The banks appealed against a big fine imposed on them by a court of the first instance. The sentiment worsened further due to travel bans imposed by Washington on a group of Hungarian citizens allegedly involved in corruption cases. Although even the Hungarian prime minister does not know the names of persons put on the black list, the group apparently includes high-ranking state officials. Despite yesterday’s losses, the forint has remained close to its strongest levels achieved during the last four months.
Regarding this week’s trading, the regional calendar is, apart from Polish retail sales and unemployment to be released on Thursday, empty. The CEE currencies will therefore be driven by global events such as a fresh set of PMI data made available later this week or results of stress test performed in the euro area´s banking sector, which should be published during next weekend.
This non-exhaustive information is based on short-term forecasts for expected developments on the financial markets. KBC Bank cannot guarantee that these forecasts will materialize and cannot be held liable in any way for direct or consequential loss arising from any use of this document or its content. The document is not intended as personalized investment advice and does not constitute a recommendation to buy, sell or hold investments described herein. Although information has been obtained from and is based upon sources KBC believes to be reliable, KBC does not guarantee the accuracy of this information, which may be incomplete or condensed. All opinions and estimates constitute a KBC judgment as of the data of the report and are subject to change without notice.
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