BUDAPEST: Central European government bond yields rose slightly on Tuesday, tracking euro zone yields and with Monday's interest rate hike by the Romanian central bank also contributing to the rise.
Romania's 10-year yield hit a new four-year high, bid at 4.78 percent, up 6 basis points and extending Monday's gains.
The central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 2.50 percent on Monday to tackle a sharp rise in prices which pushed annual inflation up to 5 percent last month.
The bank is expected to tighten policy further.
The government scrapped a bond auction on Monday due to flagging demand, but it has comfortable cash buffers, and Romanian bond yields are set to stay relatively well anchored going forward, Raiffeisen analyst Stephan Imre said in a note.
"At the same time, RON FX (the leu) has only limited potential to benefit from the ongoing MP (monetary policy) tightening as fiscal/political risks may continue to hinder RON to gain vs EUR materially," he added.
The leu firmed 0.1 percent against the euro to 4.655 by 0846 GMT.
Other Central European currencies were near Monday's closing levels as the past weeks' dollar rally seemed to lose steam around 1.19 versus the euro.
All eyes remained fixed on the euro/dollar cross, however, after the dollar rally knocked regional currencies to multi-month lows a week ago.
"Should global FX markets regain a new floor we project bottom fishing to develop in PLN (the zloty), RUB (the rouble) and HUF (the forint)," Raiffeisen analyst Gintaras Shlizhyus said.
The dinar was also steady, at 118.11 to the euro, despite the resignation of Serbia's finance minister Dusan Vujovic due to personal reasons, a day after the country began talks with the International Monetary Fund on a new funding deal. The government is still seen as stable despite Vujovic's departure.
The forint was a touch softer at 314.65 against the euro.
Hungary's industrial output fell by an annual 2.4 percent in March due to fewer working days than in the same month last year, but the outlook is positive despite the mild negative surprise, Erste analyst Orsolya Nyeste said in a note.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban's new government, to be formed in the next few weeks, could introduce new fiscal stimulus, Orban's new chief of staff told Reuters.
"The market would need to see concrete measures for an impact," one Budapest-based fixed income trader said.
Hungarian government bond yields traded 2-3 basis points above Monday's fixing levels.
After selling more than 100 billion forints' ($378 million)worth of bonds at its last two bi-weekly auctions, the government plans a sizeable sale on Thursday of 70 billion forints and a trader said he expected the government could increase the amount on offer.
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