CEE MARKETS-Hungarian 4iG shares jump 9% on contract with Vodafone, forint weakens due to sad data

BUDAPEST, January 9 (Reuters) – The Hungarian forint weakened slightly on Monday after disappointing industrial and trade data, while shares of IT company 4iG rose more than 9% on news that the company signed a deal to buy a 51% stake in Hungary’s Vodafone.

British telecom group Vodafone VOD.L said it had agreed to sell its Hungarian business to 4iG and the Hungarian state and would receive a total cash consideration of 1.7 billion euros ($1.82 billion) from the deal. 4iG shares jumped 9.1% to HUF 766 by 08:58 GMT on the Budapest Stock Exchange.

Also on Monday, data showed that Hungary’s industrial production HUIND=ECI rose 0.5% year-on-year in November, well below analysts’ forecasts for a 4.3% increase, signaling an accelerating economic slowdown that should worsen this year.

At the same time, the country’s trade deficit increased sharply in November, mainly due to increased energy imports.

Forint EURHUF= it fell 0.2% to 396.20 per euro in morning trade after strong gains last week on improving global sentiment and a large foreign exchange bond issue by Hungary. Polish zloty EURPLN= it increased by 0.2%.

Czech crownEURCZK= was mostly stable around 24.017 against the euro.

It has found a slow but steady path of consolidation in recent weeks, as sentiment in global and central European markets improved due to falling gas prices, which eased concerns about Europe’s energy crisis. It was also supported by the Czech National Bank, which kept its promise to intervene to prevent any sharp weakening as it battles inflation.

Despite some “hawkish” tones in minutes, markets generally see interest rates steady for the Czech central bank and others in central Europe — where tightening has already begun in 2021, ahead of hikes by global peers.

A Reuters poll showed on Friday that analysts forecast the krona to weaken to 24.50 by the end of the year, despite trading below 24 for the first time since 2011 at the start of the year.

CEE MARKETS

SNAPSHOT

At 09:49 CET

CURRENCIES

the latest

The previous one

Daily

Change

a bid

close to

change

in 2023

EURCZK=

Czech crown

EURCZK=

24.0170

24.0020

-0.06%

+0.59%

EURHUF=

Hungarian forint

EURHUF=

396.2000

395.6500

-0.14%

+0.82%

EURPLN=

Polish zloty

EURPLN=

4.6935

4.7025

+0.19%

-0.08%

EURRON=

Romanian leu

EURRON=

4.9200

4.9286

+0.17%

+0.46%

EURHRK=

Croatian kuna

EURHRK=

7.5330

7.5365

+0.05%

+0.05%

EURRSD=

Serbian dinar

EURRSD=

117.2900

117.3300

+0.03%

+0.01%

Note: daily change

calculated from

1800 CET

the latest

The previous one

Daily

Change

close to

change

in 2023

.PKS

Prague

.PKS

1264.32

1249.3100

+1.20%

+5.21%

.BUKS

Budapest

.BUKS

45536.97

45419.78

+0.26%

+3.98%

.VIG20

Warsaw

.VIG20

1882.07

1856.05

+1.40%

+5.03%

.BETTY

Bucharest

.BETTY

12169.80

12135.06

+0.29%

+4.34%

.SBITOP

Ljubljana

.SBITOP

1067.01

1065.90

+0.10%

+1.74%

.CRBEKS

Zagreb

.CRBEKS

2013.15

2006.79

+0.32%

+666.13%

.BELEX15

White City

.BELEX15

825.95

824.61

+0.16%

+0.16%

.SUPHIX

Sofia

.SUPHIX

604.72

604.72

+0.00%

+0.54%

Yield

Yield

Expansion

Daily

(auction)

change

vs Bund

change to

Czech Republic

expansion

CZ2IT=RR

2 years

CZ2IT=RR

5.5710

-0.3400

+294 bps

-38 bps

CZ5IT=RR

5 years

CZ5IT=RR

4.8090

-0.0400

+251 bps

-9 bps

CZ10IT=RR

10 years

CZ10IT=RR

4.6660

0.0200

+241 bps

-3bps

Poland

PL2IT=RR

2 years

PL2IT=RR

5.8620

-0.2410

+323 bps

-29 bps

PL5IT=RR

5 years

PL5IT=RR

5.7210

-0.2620

+342 bps

-31 bps

PL10IT=RR

10 years

PL10IT=RR

5.8990

-0.2490

+364 bps

-30 bps

FORWARD

3×6

6×9

9×12

3M Interbank

Czech Rep

CZKFRAACCESSORIES=

7.07

6.75

6.29

7.22

Hungary

HUFFRABUBOR=

13.83

12.26

10.71

16.13

Poland

PLNFRAVIBOR=

6.94

6.97

6.24

6.99

Note: FRA quotes

are for the asking price

****************************************************** ************

(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Jason Hovet in Prague; Editing by Uttaresh.V)

((krisztina.than@thomsonreuters.com))

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Nasdaq, Inc.