BUDAPEST: The forint was trading at 311.38 to the euro late Thursday on the interbank forex market, up from 312.36 late Wednesday. At 312.37 to the euro early Thursday, the forint moved between 310.60, a six-day high, and 312.81, after a nearly five-month low at 314.97 Monday intraday.
The Hungarian currency firmed versus the euro — its trend only slowing after a late afternoon statement from the IMF which said an agreement with Greece was still far –but lost out to the dollar after data on surging US retail sales strengthened expectations for a Fed rate hike in September, and sent the dollar rising against the common European currency.
Central European currencies and government bonds still eased Thursday morning versus the euro after a Polish government reshuffle, but a surprisingly strong Hungarian government bond auction has steadied the forint already by noon.
Rising inflation and a pick-up in economic growth have fuelled a recent rise in bond yields in Europe, and coupled with political uncertainty in Poland and Romania and the Greek debt crisis, have suggested that policy easing by Central European central banks may be near the end.
