Hungary 4iG shares soar 9% on Vodafone deal, forint eases on dismal data

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BUDAPEST — The Hungarian forint eased

slightly on Monday after disappointing industry output and trade

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data, while shares of IT company 4iG surged more than 9% on news

that the company signed a deal to acquire a 51% stake in

Vodafone’s Hungarian unit.

British telecom group Vodafone said it had agreed

the sale of 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. Shares of 4iG

jumped 9.1% to 766 forints by 0858 GMT on the Budapest Stock

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Exchange.

Also on Monday, data showed that Hungary’s industrial output

rose by an annual 0.5% in November, well below

analyst forecasts for a 4.3% increase, signaling an

accelerating slowdown in the economy, which is set to worsen

this year.

At the same time, the country’s trade deficit widened

sharply in November, largely due to surging energy imports.

The forint dropped 0.2% to 396.20 to the euro in

morning trade after substantial gains last week amid improving

global sentiment and a large fx bond issue by Hungary. Poland’s

zloty was up 0.2%.

The Czech crown was broadly steady around 24.017

versus the euro.

It has found a slow-but-steady firming path in recent weeks

as sentiment in global and central European markets improved due

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to falling gas prices, lifting some worry over a European energy

crunch. It has also been supported by the Czech National Bank,

which has maintained a pledge to intervene to prevent any sharp

weakening as it fights inflation.

Despite some “hawkish” tones in the minutes, markets

generally see stable interest rates ahead for the Czech central

bank and others in central Europe — where tightening started

already in 2021, before hikes by global peers.

A Reuters poll on Friday showed analysts forecast the crown

to weaken back to 24.50 by the end of the year, despite trading

below 24 for the first time since 2011 to begin the year.

CEE SNAPSHO AT

MARKETS T 0949

CET

CURRENC

IES

Latest Previou Daily Change

s

bid close change in 2023

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EURCZK Czech

EURHUF Hungary 0 0

EURPLN Polish

EURRON Romanian

EURHRK Croatian

EURRSD Serbian 0 0

Note: calculated from 1800

daily CET

change

Latest Previou Daily Change

s

close change in 2023

.PX Prague 1264.32 1249.31 +1.20% +5.21%

00

.BUX Budapest 45536.9 45419.7 +0.26% +3.98%

7 8

.WIG20 Warsaw <.wig20>

.BETI Buchares 12169.8 12135.0 +0.29% +4.34%

t 0 6

.SBITO Ljubljan <.sbito p a>

.CRBEX Zagreb <.crbex> 3%

.BELEX Belgrade <.belex>

.SOFIX Sofia <.sofix>

Yield Yield Spread Daily

(bid) change vs Bund change

in

Czech spread

Republic

CZ2YT= 2-year s

CZ5YT= 5-year s

CZ10YT s

Poland

PL2YT= 2-year s

PL5YT= 5-year s

PL10YT s

FORWARD

3×6 6×9 9×12 3M

interba

nk

Czech

Hungary

Poland

Note: are for ask

FRA prices

quotes

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(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Jason Hovet in Prague; editing

by Uttaresh.V)