KBC Market Research Desk
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Regional PMI’s in focus
The Central European currencies were under a modest pressure on Friday. The forint posted the largest loss but its depreciation stemmed rather from strong afternoon gains of the US dollar than from any domestic factors, though Hungarian stocks and bonds have also been under some pressure since Wednesday.
As for the week ahead, the results of PMI indices may attract some market attention. In recent months, the business optimism has vanished in Poland in particular (its PMI remains below the key-50-level) and data from Germany (both Ifo and PMI) bode ill in this regard. Another country, in addition to Poland, where the business sentiment dropped in August is Hungary, but this type of data is very volatile in Hungary, and therefore no strong conclusions could be drawn from the data for a single month. Hence the Hungarian PMI index could also catch the eye. And finally, September’s business mood index for Czech industry will also be worthy of attention. To date, the index has been essentially immune to the deterioration of ‘soft’ data in Germany, which seems rather peculiar, because Czech industry is most dependent on Germany’s situation.
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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