BUDAPEST: The forint was trading at 310.80 to the euro late Friday on the interbank forex market, up from final quotes at 311.14 on Thursday. At 311.20 to the euro early Friday, the forint moved between 310.19 and 311.28, after a ten-day low at 311.72 late Friday, and a more than two-month high at 306.46 late Monday.
The forint is down 1.11% versus the euro from final quotes last Friday, after rising 1.43% over the week before. It is up 1.90% from the end of last year, after it lost 6.12% last year, and 1.95% in 2013. The Hungarian forint struggled to correct some of Thursdayʼs plunge against all major currencies. It pared gains versus the euro and briefly turned sour again in dollar terms early afternoon, following US July payroll data that broadly confirmed market consensus for a September rate hike in the US.
Longer-term US and German yields fell on lower inflation outlook as oil prices plunged to a six-month low after the dollar rose on the jobs data. But falling yields also illustrated that first-rated sovereign bond markets are coming to terms with the apparently unavoidable US tightening. However, Hungarian long government bond yields rose on the secondary market, showing both vulnerability and an effort to stay in competition in view of the approaching US move which could make emerging market assets less attractive to foreign investors who, after some withdrawals since spring, still hold 37% of Hungaryʼs foreign debt.
