Forint touches new low, crown stabilises near 2015 low

• The Czech crown stabilised slightly in early trading, but has lost more than 8% already in March. The forint and zloty are both down more than 5%.

PRAGUE: Hungary's forint touched a new record low on Thursday and the Polish zloty slipped 0.8% as a sell-off amid global coronavirus worries continued to hit central Europe hard.

The Czech crown stabilised slightly in early trading, but has lost more than 8% already in March. The forint and zloty are both down more than 5%.

"There is panic in the market... it is risk off (at) full strength," a Warsaw-based dealer said. "Everything is going wild... nobody wants to have any risk, everyone is closing risk."

By 0903 GMT, the forint was down 1.0% at 358.06 to the euro, off a new all-time low of 359.50. The zloty was down at 4.573 and the crown nudged up 0.2% on the day to 27.700 per euro after weakening to nearly 28.0 on Wednesday.

Central Europe's open economies are set be hit by the disruptions to business and daily life being felt around the world as governments seek to contain the spread of the new coronavirus that has infected more than 200,000 worldwide.

In central Europe, borders were closed, restaurants and shops were mostly ordered to shut down and major factories announced production halts across the region, including all the major car producers that are the lifeblood of the regions' economies.

Analysts say low interest rates in Hungary were also leaving the forint vulnerable.

The crown, though, has been hardest hit in the outbreak market panic, falling to its lowest in five years.

Its sharp move lower is in large part due to the unwinding of huge positions that had been built up in the currency when the central bank was pursuing a policy of intervention to keep it weak between 2013 and 2017, analysts and traders said.

Elsewhere, stock markets continued their wild ride, bouncing 1-3% after sharp falls the previous day.