CEE MARKETS-Crown eases despite rate hike; oil group MOL shares outperform Monetary Unit Of Hungary

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CEE MARKETS-Crown eases despite rate hike; oil group MOL shares outperform Monetary Unit Of Hungary

By KrisztinaThanBUDAPEST, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The crown retreated on Fridayalong with other Central European currencies, even though theCzech central bank raised interest rates on Thursday, asemerging markets suffered amid the Turkish lira's plunge.Hungarian oil and gas group MOL shares jumped by 2 percent after the company improved its outlook for 2018,helping to lift the Budapest stock market by 1 percent by 0900GMT. Budapest outperformed the rest of the region, where shareswere only modestly higher.The Czech central bank raised its benchmark interest rate onThursday, the third increase this year, as it tries to corralinflation and compensate for a weak currency.However, the bank's outlook showed rates remaining stablenext year, leaving many in the market disappointed, some traderssaid. "It's the 2019 no-hikes that surprised a bit, seeing thenext move in early 2020 – all that caused by expectations for amuch stronger currency next year, to effectively delivermonetary tightening," Komercni Banka rates trader DalimilVyskovsky said in a note.The bank raised its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to1.25 percent, its fifth increase since last August. But thecrown shed 0.2 percent by 0900 GMT to trade at 25.70. The zloty lost 0.1 percent while the forint was flat,stuck between 321 and 322 to the euro."Emerging market currencies were hit yesterday due to ageneral risk-aversion in markets and sanctions introduced by theUnited States against Turkey," brokerage Equilor said in a note.Equilor analysts said emerging-market currencies couldremain under pressure from a dispute between Turkey and the U.S.The lira fell to record lows after Washington imposedsanctions on two of President Tayyip Erdogan's ministers.Despite the weakening, Central Europe's currencies remainednear multi-week highs reached in recent days, after investorsclosed some of the selling positions opened in the past monthswhen the dollar rallied in global markets.Hungary's MOL shares led a rise on the Budapest StockExchange after the company announced it raised its 2018 EBITDAtarget to around $2.4 bln from $2.2 bln. The stocksurged 2 percent by 0917 GMT to 2, alsojumped by one percent to 10 Monetary Unit Of Hungary , OTP Bank, alsojumped by one percent to 10,530 forints after the companyreported earlier in the week that it signed a deal to buySociete Generale's Bulgarian and Albanian units.CEESNAPSHOT AT MARKETS1059 CET CURRENCI ES LatestPreviousDaily Change bid close changein 2018 Czech25.7000 25.6600-0.16%-0.61% crown Hungary 321.2000321.1450-0.02%-3.20% forint Polish4.27724.2722-0.12%-2.36% zloty Romanian4.62004.6217+0.04%+1.29% leu Croatian7.40607.4075+0.02%+0.33% kuna Serbian 117.8600118.0200+0.14%+0.54% dinar Note:calculated from1800 CET daily change LatestPreviousDaily Change close changein 2018 Prague 1090.861089.090+0.16%+1.18%0 Budapest36411.9836035.46+1.04%-7.53% Warsaw 2284.97 2283.94+0.05%-7.16% Bucharest8006.01 7994.11+0.15%+3.25% Ljubljana 889.53888.43+0.12% +10.31% Zagreb 1819.25 1818.34+0.05%-1.28% Belgrade <.BELEX15743.29742.00+0.17%-2.17%> Sofia 639.15639.31-0.03%-5.65% BONDS Yield Yield SpreadDaily (bid) changevs Bund change in Czech spread Republic 2-year 5-year 10-year Poland 2-year 5-year 10-year FORWARDRATEAGREEMEN T 3x6 6x9 9x123M interban k Czech Rep<1.441.651.77#N/APRIBOR=> Hungary<0.380.580.780.00BUBOR=> Poland <1.731.751.801.70WIBOR=> Note: FRAare for ask prices quotes ************************************************** ************ ($1 = 277.1300 forints) (Reporting by Krisztina Than and Jason Hovet, editing by LarryKing)