CEE MARKETS-Stocks, currencies higher despite dismal economic data

By Anita Komuves BUDAPEST, June 5 (Reuters) - Central European stocks and currencies rose on Friday as optimism returned to markets after the European Central Bank announced a boost of its stimulus program to mitigate the fall-out from the coronavirus pandemic. Assets firmed even as fresh data showed the lockdown measures introduced to stop the spread of the virus have hammered regional economies. Hungary's industrial output plunged by an annual rate of 36.8% in April, with car factories virtually halting production. Czech retail sales slumped by 10.6% year-on-year in April, the worst result on record. The crisis caused by the virus weakened currencies in the region as well, but the recent risk-on mood helped them regain a significant part of their losses. The Czech crown, the Polish zloty and the Hungarian forint each gained more than 0.2% on Friday while the Romanian leu was stable. A Reuters poll on Friday showed that the Czech crown should gain the most among central European currencies over the next year as economies recover. Over the next 12 months, the crown was seen gaining 3.6% to 25.705 to the euro. The forint was trading at 343.95 against the euro on Friday, up 0.23%. "Since the unexpected rate cut of the Polish central bank, there has been a heavy trade flow in the zloty-forint pair, which keeps the forint at its current (firmer) level", an FX trader in Budapest said. "The forint is also waiting to hear from the national bank about the policy direction they want to take," he said. Marton Nagy, deputy governor of the NBH, unexpectedly resigned last week. The bank's managing director, Barnabas Virag, has been nominated to replace him, sources told Reuters on Friday. Poland's nationalist government won a vote of confidence in parliament on Thursday which it unexpectedly called to shore up its authority before a presidential election, prompting a slide in the zloty. "The zloty managed to weaken as sharply as it had strengthened towards the beginning of the week," a note from Commerzbank said, adding that the currency simply could have entered a high volatility period. The zloty was trading at 4.428 versus the euro on Friday, up 0.23% on the day. CEE SNAPSHOT AT 0954 MARKETS CET CURRENCIE S Latest Previous Daily Change bid close change in 2020 Czech crown 26.5800 26.6330 +0.20% -4.32% Hungary 343.9500 344.7500 +0.23% -3.72% forint Polish 4.4280 4.4383 +0.23% -3.88% zloty Romanian 4.8390 4.8380 -0.02% -1.05% leu Croatian 7.5690 7.5723 +0.04% -1.63% kuna Serbian 117.5400 117.6100 +0.06% +0.03 dinar % Note: daily calculated from 1800 change CET Latest Previous Daily Change close change in 2020 Prague 947.97 932.4200 +1.67% -15.03 % Budapest 37612.11 37260.06 +0.94% -18.38 % Warsaw 1817.50 1786.58 +1.73% -15.47 % Bucharest 8979.02 9021.60 -0.47% -10.01 % Ljubljana 879.38 873.24 +0.70% -5.02% Zagreb 1673.94 1673.10 +0.05% -17.03 % Belgrade 678.01 678.32 -0.05% -15.43 % Sofia 462.36 462.10 +0.06% -18.62 % BONDS Yield Yield Spread Daily (bid) change vs Bund change in Czech spread Republic 2-year 0.1150 0.0290 +071bp +1bps s 5-year 0.4940 0.0110 +104bp -1bps s 10-year <CZ10YT=RR 0.9130 0.0820 +121bp +6bps > s Poland 2-year 0.2390 0.0070 +083bp -1bps s 5-year 0.8150 0.0250 +136bp +0bps s 10-year <PL10YT=RR 1.4140 0.0260 +171bp +0bps > s FORWARD RATE AGREEMENT 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interb ank Czech Rep <P 0.26 0.29 0.33 0.34 RIBOR=> Hungary <B 0.79 0.76 0.71 0.90 UBOR=> Poland <W 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.27 IBOR=> Note: FRA are for ask prices quotes (Additional reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw Editing by Mark Heinrich)