Currency Alerts
11/23/2009 9:46 AM ET
(RTTNews) -
Rebounding from Friday's 4-day low, the Hungarian forint surged higher against the US dollar in early New York trading on Monday following the Hungarian Central Bank's decision to trim its base rate by 50 bps.
The Monitory Council of Magyar Nemzeti Bank slashed its base rate to 6.5% from 7%, with effect from November 24. In October, the central bank had reduced their interest rate by 50 basis points from 7.5%. The rate cut came in line with economists' expectations.
The forint rose to a 4-day high of 178.3 against the greenback before leveling off around 8:00 am ET. This was up 2.5 percent from Friday's 4-day low of 182.89 and more than 1.6 percent from last week's close of 181.24. The dollar-forint pair is presently trading at 178.5 and a further rally may push the domestic unit to breach the 176.3 resistance level.
Earlier in the day, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office announced that the retail sales decreased a calender adjusted 7.3% year-on-year in September, compared to the 7.2% fall in the previous month. Economists expected a decline of 6.6%. A year ago, retail sales were down 1.2%.
On a monthly basis, retail sales dropped a seasonally and calendar adjusted 0.5% in September, after falling 0.8% in August, revised from 0.7% decline reported initially.
Meanwhile, the market research company GKI said today that the Hungarian economic-sentiment gauge worsened in November for the first time in seven months as people became more concerned about unemployment.
The index fell to minus 27.5 from minus 26.8 in October and a record-low of minus 46.2 in April. Business confidence declined to minus 18.9 from minus 18.4 and the consumer gauge dropped to minus 51.9 from minus 50.8.
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com
|