The Lower House indirectly called for Czech TV director Jiří Hodač to resign, but he passed along the message that he has no intention to do so.
The Czech koruna fell to a two-and-a-half-month low against the euro as the European currency gained more strength against the dollar. The koruna fell as much as 35.33 to the euro, from 35.17 in Friday's late trading and 35.07 on Wednesday. It recently was at 35.23 to the euro.
The euro surged 2 percent on Friday to 94.64 U.S. cents. As the U.S. economy appears slowing, the common European currency is trading near a five-and-a-half-month high to the dollar, following its decline to a historic low in late October. The euro's recent gains helped weaken the koruna.
The Czech government sold CZK 4.4 billion (USD 118.9 million) in three-year bonds at a regular auction and an additional auction later, showing demand for low-risk debt is growing as inflation remains benign.
The Czech central bank, the agent for the Finance Ministry's bond sales, sold CZK 4 billion in the 6.9 percent bond at an average yield of 5.94 percent. The auction attracted CZK 12.3 billion in bids. Then the ministry offered more of the bond with the yield of 5.94 percent, prompting investors to buy another CZK 400 million in the security.
(David Marek)