BUDAPEST: Warsaw led a rise of Central Europe's main stock indices on Wednesday as US President Donald Trump generated optimism about a trade deal with China, helping global equities markets.
Warsaw's bluechip share index rose 0.8 percent by 0905 GMT, rebounding from a 2-week low reached in the previous session, led by PKO, Poland's biggest lender.
The Czech crown eased to 25.86 versus the euro, remaining weaker than its 200-day moving average of 25.7, even though board member Vojtech Benda said the Czech central bank may need to follow up its four consecutive rate hikes with another one at its Dec. 20 meeting.
Benda told Reuters that the weakness of the crown justified discussing another hike.
Worries over Britain's European Union exit deal generally weighed on mood and trade interest in the region's other markets after lawmakers in Prime Minister Theresa May's own party triggered a confidence vote in her leadership.
The terms of Brexit are closely watched in central Europe due to trade links with Britain and the exposure of the region's heavyweight vehicle industry.
Investors were also holding their breath ahead of the Federal Reserve's Dec. 18-19 meeting, which could cause upset if it suggests that a sharp fall in debt yields in the region in the past months was overdone.
The decline was fuelled by a retreat in inflation, driven by a fall in crude prices. However, US Treasury yields and the dollar's appeal remain key factors in EU emerging markets.
Bulgaria was the latest to report a fall in inflation, releasing a 3.1 percent annual figure for November on Wednesday, down from 3.7 percent a month earlier.
Government bonds and currencies were mixed and rangebound in the region.
The dinar firmed 0.1 percent ahead of the publication of Serbian inflation data later in the day.
The leu eased while the forint and the zloty firmed a shade against the euro.
Elsewhere, Hungarian bond yields rose by about 2 basis points, with the 10-year paper trading around 3.18 percent, as investors were monitoring Britain's leadership crisis, one Budapest-based fixed income trader said.
Despite the uncertainty, lower-than-expected November inflation data from the region supports a decline in Poland's government bond yields, Santander Bank analysts said in a note.
Poland's 10-year yield pierced 3 percent on Tuesday and hovered in a tight range around that psychological line on Wednesday, near its lowest levels since 2016.
"Today we expect the Polish yield curve to go even lower, especially on the long end," Santander Bank said.
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