Good news for the ministry of finance - Konsolidacni banka has decided not to include losses from the CZK 60 bil. of bad losses it bought from Komercni banka earlier this year in its results. And, hoopla, its expected loss for 2000 falls by CZK 20-25 bil. Who says that money cannot be produced out of nothing?
The Czech koruna tests central bank's nerves. It firmed vis-a-vis the euro to all time record of 35.32 CZK/EUR and then lost only marginally to 35.40 CZK/EUR. It is a level 0.30 CZK stronger than the level that sparked last CNB's interventions. The koruna gained against the dollar as well, from 38.5 CZK/USD in the morning to 38.20 CZK/USD by the end of the day. The koruna strengthening may owe to inflow of funds that the VW is paying for the remaining state stake in Skoda Auto. About CZK 12 bil. have to find their way to the National Property Fund coffers and that amount may have supported the record strong koruna.
Monday was a very quiet day on Czech bond market. While prices dropped, only a few trades have been done. The market started some 25-30 bps lower than Friday's close, as IRS have been shown some basis points higher on brokers' pages. The market was very quiet then, though some have been buying later (with MoF 6.75/05 and EIB 8.20/09 on buy list, which helped the prices few bps up only). We are still rather bearish, though the trend and the timing is not that significant anymore.
Current benchmark prices: MoF 6.75/05 100.40-70 (-5 bps), MoF 6.30/07 96.50-80 (-20 bps), MoF 6.40/10 95.85-15 (-20 bps).
(Ondrej Schneider and Dalimil Vyskovsky)